India levelled the five-match series 2-2 by defeating England by six runs in a nail-biting thriller. With England needing just 35 runs and India requiring four wickets on the final day, the visitors held their nerve to clinch a dramatic win and draw the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
India posted 224 in their first innings, with Karun Nair top-scoring with 57. For England, Gus Atkinson delivered a superb performance, picking up a five-wicket haul. In response, England managed 247, with solid contributions from Zak Crawley (64) and Harry Brook (53). India’s pace duo of Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna impressed, claiming four wickets each to keep the hosts’ lead in check.
In their second innings, India put up a commanding total of 396, thanks to a collective batting effort. Yashasvi Jaiswal led the way with a brilliant 118, while Akash Deep (66), Ravindra Jadeja (53), and Washington Sundar (53) all chipped in with valuable half-centuries. Josh Tongue stood out for England with another five-wicket haul, but the target of 374 proved to be a challenge.
England looked favourites at one stage in the chase, with Joe Root (105), Ben Duckett (54), and a blistering 111 off 98 balls from Harry Brook putting them in a strong position. However, India staged a remarkable comeback, led by Siraj, who claimed a match-winning five-wicket haul, while Krishna added four wickets in the second innings to seal a thrilling victory for India.
Who Said What?
Mohammed Siraj (Player of the Match):
To be honest, it feels amazing. We wanted to fight hard from Day 1 and to see this result is great. The plan was to keep it simple and hit one spot. When I woke up today I believed that I could do it. It took a photo from Google and put it as my wallpaper that I could do it. If I had taken that (Brook) catch properly probably we may not have had to come today. But Brook played really well. It was a heart-breaking moment. He was just telling me to middle the ball. Remember you Father and the hardwork you have put in to get here.
Harry Brook (England’s Player of the Series):
Came into the day very confident. Had very two good players out there at the time and thought they’d easily see it home. The way India bowled today, they deserve every success. (On whether England had the advantage today) Absolutely, we thought the bowlers would stiffen up a bit and the pitch would flatten out a bit (after the use of the heavy roller).
Siraj has played every game of the series and has bowled every ball 85+mph, respect him a lot. He was always going to go out, massive credit to him. Unfortunate we couldn’t get over the line. So many things you can think in hindsight, we were obviously going so well, if we could’ve got a couple of big overs when I was going then the game was done. We’ve seen collapses in this series. My thought process was just to hit as many runs as quickly as possible.
If we needed 40 runs when I and Rooty were out there and I got out, the game would’ve still been ours. Hindsight’s a beautiful thing, now that I think about it, I probably shouldn’t have played that shot. It’s been an awesome series, very intense series, we’ve been knackered after everything. We’ve put everything out there, we’ve enjoyed every moment of it even though the result didn’t go our way today. It’s such a good advert for Test cricket.
Shubman Gill (Winning Captain and India’s Player of the Series):
Definitely both the teams played brilliantly throughout the series. Both the teams came up with their A-game, happy to get on the right side today. When you have bowlers like Siraj and Prasidh, captaincy seems easy. They were making the ball talk. Yes, there was a bit of pressure on us but they were really bowling well. We were confident. We wanted them to feel the pressure throughput the 37 runs they scored. He [Siraj] is a captain’s dream, every ball, every spell he bowled he came all out and gave it everything for the team.
Both teams coming into Day 5 not knowing who would win shows how passionate both teams were and how hard everyone has played. Feels very rewarding, there were certain things I wanted to work on as a batter and it was a goal to end as the best batter of this series, glad to get that goal. It is always a combination of technique and mentality, when you are feeling good mentally then the technique naturally flows. (What he’s learnt through the series) That we never give up.
Ben Stokes (Losing Captain):
It’s obviously always difficult when you can’t participate in the game. Another hard fought game, down to Day 5, both teams have put in so much energy and effort into it. Bitterly disappointed we couldn’t get over the line. But really proud of my team with everything they’ve put in. Disappointed we couldn’t get the series win. When it got to the situation it did, there was no question in Woakesy’s (Chris Woakes) mind (about batting).
He spent yesterday thinking about which way around he was going to bat. We’ve got guys who’ve gone out there and played with broken fingers and broken feet. It shows how much it means to these players to play for their countries. I’m very proud of what the players have done and I’m sure Shubman is too. India-England is always a big series, you get so much emotion. We won’t be going to our bed crying about what was said (on the field) and neither would the Indian players, it’s all part of the passion. Worked incredibly hard to be able to go out there and fulfill my role as an allrounder. Disappointed I had to miss out on this game. Time to rehab and wait for the big one now (The Ashes).
When one of your bowlers goes down so early in the game, everyone’s else role changes. The heart and the desire the big fellows kept showing in that second innings was tremendous. All we ask from the guys is for them to leave everything out on the field. Not ideal when one of your bowlers goes down but it was a tremendous effort from our three fast bowlers.
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