ENG vs IND Oval Test Day 5: Siraj grabs a five-for as India seal stunning victory over England, clinch series draw

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London, Aug 4: Mohammed Siraj stole the show as India sealed an incredible six-run victory against England in an instant classic at The Oval.

England, with four wickets remaining, required only 35 runs to win the match and the series when Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton headed back out to the crease to start day five.

And it looked promising for the hosts when Overton slammed the first two balls of the day for boundaries, yet Siraj, who finished with figures of 5-104, and his India teammates had other ideas as they ensured the series ended in a 2-2 draw.

Smith (two) nervously advanced down the wicket and edged Siraj's delivery through to Dhruv Jurel, with the wicket given after a consultation with the third umpire.

Gus Atkinson edged the next ball, but it did not carry through to KL Rahul, who could not hold onto it anyway, but the brilliant Siraj struck again when he pinned Overton lbw.

Josh Tongue survived when given out lbw, successfully reviewing the decision, but he was gone for a duck when Prasidh Krishna (4-126) bowled him out.

With Chris Woakes – whose left arm was in a sling – coming out last for England, all the pressure was on Atkinson, who gave them hope when he slogged Siraj for six, with the help of an attempted, but failed, catch from Akash Deep on the boundary.

As Woakes grimaced through the pain at one end, Atkinson (17) bravely kept hold of the strike to bring England within one hit of a tie. The main man Siraj, though, stepped up again for India, completing his five-for and a remarkable triumph by sending the stumps flying.

Data Debrief: Narrow margins

England looked in control until late on Sunday, but even so, they would have expected to do the business with four wickets to play with. Instead, Siraj took up the mantle in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah.

Siraj finished the series with 23 wickets, the most of any player – he took nine of those in the final Test.

This marks India's narrowest ever win in Test cricket, surpassing their 13-run margin of victory over Australia in 2004.

England, meanwhile, have let a fantastic opportunity slip. They have not beaten India in a Test series since 2018, while The Oval (37) has now moved level with Old Trafford when it comes to the amount of Test matches drawn, ranking behind only Lord's (51).