India won the fifth Test against England at the Oval by 6 runs and leveled the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series 2-2. The hero of this victory was Mohammad Siraj, who bowled brilliantly on the last day and brought England to their knees.
But the joy of this victory doubled when former captain Virat Kohli posted a heart-touching post on social media in praise of Siraj.
IND vs ENG: Siraj’s magic
On the last day of the match, England needed only 35 runs in the target of 374 runs and they had 4 wickets left. But Siraj created such a storm that England’s hopes were shattered. He took 3 wickets for 9 runs and 5 wickets for 104 runs in the entire innings.
Siraj got Jamie Smith caught behind the wicket and Jamie Overton LBW on a fast ball. The last wicket was also taken by Siraj, which gave India the most thrilling victory in Test cricket.
Virat Kohli wrote on social media,
“Great win by team india. Resilience and determination from Siraj and Prasidh has given us this phenomenal victory.
Special mention to Siraj who will put everything on the line for the team. Extremely happy for him.”
Siraj showed amazing performance in this series. In the absence of star bowler like Jasprit Bumrah, Siraj took charge and became the top wicket-taker of the series by taking 23 wickets at an average of 32.43.
Player of the Match Siraj said after the match,
“I feel so amazing! From Day One till here, everyone fought hard, and then this result, we are very, very happy!
The plan is simple, to keep it consistently in the right areas and everything would take care of itself! I woke up, took a photo out of Google, saying ‘Believe’, and stuck to it!
That dropped catch was a critical moment, had I taken that catch, it would have been done much earlier. Harry Brook played really well! I was crestfallen at Lord’s! But Jaddu bhai, told me to think about my father, but, it was not to be!
Captain Shubman Gill is India’s Player of the Series. He says
“I think the way both the teams played in the entire series…. We always came to Day 5 not knowing which team will win. It shows that both brought their A-game. Having people like Siraj and Prasidh make captaincy easy. The idea was to keep the pressure on.
Pressure makes people do what they don’t want to do. Siraj is a captain’s dream. Every captain wants a player like him. Feels very rewarding to have achieved this. One of the goals of my series was being the best batter of the series.
I am happy to have done that. It was both mental and technical. If you’re getting into good positions, you feel strong mentally. Over the last six weeks, I just told the team ‘never give up.’”
This victory not only leveled the series but also made Siraj the hero of every Indian cricket fan.
