It was Mohammed Siraj’s lion-hearted effort that helped India turn things around from a seemingly hopeless place on Day 4 and fittingly, it was the 31-year-old fast bowler who took the final wicket at the Oval and sealed a memorable win for the visitors. With England six runs away from victory, Siraj torpedoed in a low full toss first ball of the 89th over and uprooted Gus Atkinson’s off stump to send the Indian fans at the ground and his teammates into a tizzy.
It marked the end of a dramatic turnaround in which India came back from the dead in the dying minutes of Day 4. They have thus drawn the five-Test series 2-2 and share the inaugural Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy with England. It is the second consecutive Test series in England that they have managed to draw.
Siraj had started the proceedings on Day 5 by dismissing Jamie Overton, who had made the match look rather academical after hitting two boundaries early on. Prasidh would strike soon after when he rattled Josh Tongue stumps with the visitors needing just 1 wicket to win. This forced Chris Woakes to walk in with his hand in a sling and tucked away in his sweater. Atkinson did fairly well after that to farm strike and protect Woakes. However, it wasn’t to last too long and England, incredibly, lost a Test match despite needing just over 70 runs to win with as many as seven wickets in hand at one point on Day 4.
Watch the video of the wicket here:
THE POWER OF BELIEVE! ??????#TeamIndia seal a win for the ages as #MohammadSiraj bags a brilliant five-for!
Ye comeback karna sikhane aaye hai! ??????#ENGvIND ?? 5th TEST, DAY 5 | LIVE NOW on JioHotstar ?? https://t.co/AV9uphngTm pic.twitter.com/BvVU2BOtmb
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) August 4, 2025
India were looking down and out for much of Day 4 with Joe Root and Harry Brook first flattening them with a devastating partnership that took England’s deficit below 100 runs in no time. Brook scored 111 in 98 balls and while he fell to Akash Deep, there weren’t too many jitters in the England camp with a serene Root looking invincible at the other end.
The former England captain cruised to his 39th Test century after Tea and he saw a jumpy Jacob Bethell fall at the other end, which gave the Indian crowd something to cheer for. Then those cheers suddenly found some real hope when Prasidh Krishna sent back Root himself for 105 off 152, with England need 37 to win. What followed was a few overs of nervy batting from England before bad light, and later rain, forced early Stumps.
