The tireless warrior Mohammed Siraj would sprint in to bowl the first ball of his 185.3rd over of this series like a wind. He looked like a child running to the playground after the school bell. England were now a hit away to win the series 3-1, a six is all they needed. Even if they had tied the scores, England would have retained the 2-1 lead. The last fully-fit batsman standing, Gus Atkinson, swung his bat alright, but one more of Siraj’s match-changing deadly yorkers would blow the off-stump, and also England’s hopes.
In Indian cricket folklore, Siraj’s yorker could rank with MS Dhoni’s six that won India the 2011 World Cup. Siraj’s strike had given a logical end to the series. India’s 6-run win ended the contest 2-2 – nothing could have been more apt for this epic see-saw battle of fine margins where neither team gave up. There was sweat, blood and broken bones but no sign of the will backing down.
Siraj said that when he woke up this morning, he downloaded a google image that said ‘I can do it’ or ‘believe’ and that same attitude was what he took to the ground. That has been the attitude of this Indian team under their 25-year-old captain Shubman Gill, who came to England with the burden of ensuring a seamless transition from the side with batting stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
Yeh #NayaIndia hain, ye haar kar, phir jeetna jaanta hai 💙
Mohammed Siraj lands the winning blow to script a historic victory at The Oval 🔥#SonySportsNetwork #ENGvIND #NayaIndia #DhaakadIndia #TeamIndia #ExtraaaInnings | @mdsirajofficial pic.twitter.com/rmoemQV7e0
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) August 4, 2025
This series will have a far-reaching impact on Indian cricket. It is a blow to the old hierarchy and a hammer on the head of its deeply-embedded superstar culture, where a few seniors enjoyed excessive power and unreasonable leeway. The very un-Indian decision to hand over the reins to a 25-year-old captain and moving on from the larger than life star wasn’t just an unpopular call. It was a bold decision taken by those with influence in the BCCI, national selector Ajit Agarkar and captain Gautam Gambhir.
Historically, India gives a long rope to the aging and fading stalwarts, despite that impacting the team. There was Kapil Dev back in the day, there is MS Dhoni at CSK now. The success of this young team is expected to set a healthy precedent. Shubman’s unputdownable team has made a point – the young can be trusted and they can’t be dismissed as a T20 generation.
It was evident when Shubman led the team to the ground with England needing just 35 runs with one specialist batsman Jamie Smith still around.
The morning was murky again, the stands were full by 11 a.m, Indian fans were cheering wildly to deal with the nervousness and Siraj was running in like wind. It seemed ‘play’ was pressed on the game that had been put on ‘pause’ last evening. England needed 35 runs, India 4 more wickets – this was like a penalty shootout to decide a game that has been on for the last one and a half months. This was not a morning at The Oval to buy coffee and cheese toasties and gradually move to the seats. This was a short session and not a moment was to be missed.
For anybody who missed this riveting series of changing fortunes, watching the 56 minutes would have given an idea about the ebbs and flows of the travelling cricket drama that had come to the Oval after attracting packed houses at Leeds, Birmingham, Lord’s and Manchester, each one for 5 days. There was talk that England would take the heavy roller and that would make the pitch dead and make it easy for the home team. Like so many times before, this series has made pundits sound foolish.
Acknowledging the voices that never went quiet, no matter what 🙌 #SonySportsNetwork #ENGvIND #NayaIndia #DhaakadIndia #TeamIndia #ExtraaaInnings pic.twitter.com/9mVkregYAf
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) August 4, 2025
In the day’s first over Prasidh Krishna went for 8 runs with Jamie Overton hitting him for two fours. England now needed 27 runs. Advantage England. In the next over Siraj got the wicket of England’s last recognised batsman Jamie Smith. Now India needed 3 more wickets. In Siraj’s next over, he got Jamie Overton out lbw. Now, England needed 30 runs and India needed just two more wickets. After a couple of overs, Prasidh would get Josh Tongue. India now needed 1 wicket, England 17 runs. Advantage India. The unspoken tennis deuce was in the air.
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This was a series when the all-time greats of the games were often remembered – most times it was when their records were under threat or were broken. This Indian summer in England, no record was safe, however old or iconic.
Shubman Gill was only second to Don Bradman when it came to the runs scored by a captain in an England series. The Don made 810 on the 1936-37 tour, the Indian skipper 754. He broke one Sunil Gavaskar record and barely missed another by 21 runs. Gavaskar would present him a customized cap that had his signature and SG – the initials both share. There was a time when Ravindra Jadeja was sarcastically called Gary Sobers. In this series with 6 half-centuries he erased the great West Indian’s mark set by the GOAT all-rounder 59 years back.
The staggering run-aggregate of 3809 by the Indian team in this series was thanks to 8 innings totals of 350 plus – something no team has ever done. Most days of the series had seen packed houses and black-marketeers making a killing. They are calling this Anderson-Tendulkar series the Alt Ashes, another record considering how the English have enshrined cricket contests with their arch rivals Aussies.
