Few superlatives remain to describe the five-Test series we have witnessed this summer between England and India.
At The Oval, the inconceivable happened one more time, leaving cricket journalists around the world scrambling to cobble together flashy headlines for a fifth and final occasion.
It was a Test that saw India complete an epic six-run triumph – their narrowest in history – snatching victory from the jaws of defeat with one final roll of the dice on day five.
Played against the backdrop of melancholic celebrations for one of English cricket’s finest sons, Graham Thorpe, the fifth Test’s conclusion was a finale ‘Thorpey’ himself would have been proud of.
Coming into The Oval the mission statements for both sides were clear.
Ben Stokes’ team wanted to finish the series, their last before the Ashes tour this winter, with a flourish to seal a 3-1 victory.
Meanwhile, India’s blue brigade, led by Shubman Gill, positioned themselves to ride the crest of a wave of momentum from Old Trafford’s final hour to level a series they had dominated for so long.
After almost 25 days of Test cricket between the iconoclastic Bazballers and the fledgling next generation of Indian superstars, Cricket Paper writer Mohan Harihar reflects on the concluding chapter of a record-shattering series.
The grass is greener as The Oval provides the best pitch of the series
From Headingley to Old Trafford, fans, pundits and even players chewed the cud about the exceptionally batter-friendly surfaces.
The first four Tests, while serenading the masses with mind-boggling records, provided slow-burn storylines which caught fire only upon reaching the final day.
However, fast bowling – Test cricket’s most visceral artform – was largely rendered impotent for both sides, leaving only a narrow window for bowlers to capitalise with the new ball.
Leading up to day one at The Oval, images circulated of a pitch more in keeping with English summers of the 2010s when James Anderson and Stuart Broad were in their prime.
The grass left on the surface was a welcome departure from the bare and arid surfaces seen throughout much of his series; in return, we saw multiple bowlers finally fill their boots.
Gus Atkinson secured an economical first-innings 5-33 on his much-awaited return. In the second innings, Josh Tongue claimed a five-fer of his own, albeit an expensive one (5-125).
Mohammad Siraj and Prasidh Krishna each picked up four wickets in the second innings of the match, before claiming a further nine wickets between them in the fourth innings.
Although the fast bowlers enjoyed themselves with comparatively less exertion as was required previously, this pitch was by no means an ordeal for the batters.
Despite the first-innings team scores hovering in the sub-250s, confident batsmanship and sound technique were rewarded for both teams; Karun Nair’s 57 was the backbone for India while 64, 43 and 53 for Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Harry Brook, respectively, underpinned England’s riposte.
In the second innings, the pitch eased, but continued lateral movement through the air for both teams meant every ball was an event.
Young Yashasvi Jaiswal, Joe Root and Harry Brook all scored hundreds while four fifties were achieved by others across both sides.
Lower-scoring affairs often get a bad rap with discussions on pitch curation and what constitutes a ‘good cricket wicket’ filling the silences in the media. At The Oval, the pitch struck the perfect competitive balance between bat and ball.
In a series that has given so much it seems crass, and even gluttonous, to suggest things should have been different. Yet, the final Test reinforced the watchability of a mildly bowler-friendly pitch.
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Woakes’ untimely injury sets England back
In the absence of Stokes, who was confirmed to have a grade-three muscle tear around his right shoulder, the memo was clear on a green pitch: place all eggs in the seam-bowling basket.
Leaving out Liam Dawson, England’s front-line spinner at Old Trafford, meant it was up to the seamers to rest and rotate on the field to bag all 20 wickets; in dire circumstances, the part-time spin of Jacob Bethell and Joe Root was deemed satisfactory.
Despite overwhelmingly bowler-friendly conditions on day one, England’s bowlers, including Woakes, were uncharacteristically erratic.
The waywardness of bowling, summarised in its essence by a slew of five-wides from Josh Tongue in his first over, meant India got off to the perfect start against all odds.
However, just as the bowlers found their respective radars, Woakes dived awkwardly and dislocated his shoulder – a diagnosis and damage report that would only be confirmed later on.
Opting for four seamers in perfect bowling conditions, the hosts were now left with three. Thanks to both Tongue and Gus Atkinson, who ably covered for Woakes, England bounced back on day two to see India go from 204/6 to 224 all out.
In the third innings of the match, Woakes’ absence was felt more.
Against the exuberance of Jaiswal hellbent on erasing the deficit and establishing a lead, Woakes’ predictable precision with the new ball was certainly missed.
But against India’s middle-order men with the hot hands in the second half of the series, Jadeja and Sundar, it is difficult to assess if Woakes alone could have burst the bubble of the southpaw batters.
Woakes’ defining contribution could have come in the bonkers 56-minute passage of play on day five. A thorn in India’s side with the bat in Test cricket over the years – albeit less so this series – Woakes’ composure in a tight run chase was sorely needed.
His 84* against Pakistan at Old Trafford in 2020 and 32* against Australia at Headingley in 2023 are just two examples in which Woakes’ mettle in frenetic run chases has turned the tide.
In an alternate reality where he had both arms, Woakes may well have triggered a different ending to unfold with blade in hand.
The courage he showed to bat on day five was inspiring, mirroring Rishabh Pant’s selflessness at Old Trafford.
And for the man affectionately known as ‘Wiz’, casting a final spell to score the winning runs for his team was not entirely out of the picture as England came within only six runs of the target.
Regardless of the result, walking out to bat with one arm tied behind his back – quite literally – made a team and nation that much more proud to call him their own.
Jaiswal and Washington pave the way for India’s next generation
Yashasvi Jaiswal is no stranger to this England side.
After plundering 712 runs against Stokes’ outfit in early 2024, the young opener entered conversations to be one of the next generation’s ‘fab four‘ as Virat Kohli, Steven Smith, Joe Root and Kane Williamson reach the twilight of their careers.
On the back of a challenging Border-Gavaskar campaign Down Under for the team, Jaiswal emerged as the shining light with 391 runs (only behind Travis Head).
Adapting to pace and bounce was achieved, much like a young Kohli and Tendulkar once had. But to tour England was to enter the belly of the beast; granted, the pitches for this tour were largely the antithesis of quintessential English surfaces.
The swinging ball has rarely been the friend of touring batters, least of all openers.
Jaiswal’s ebullient 101 at Headingley and free-flowing 87 at Edgbaston suggested he might be a rare exception, but his diminishing returns and nature of dismissals thereafter told a different story.
After a tough third and fourth Test, despite a 58 in the first innings at Old Trafford, the real Jaiswal stood up again.
His 118 in a critical third innings in the toughest playing conditions of the tour, and with the series on the line, was the sort of knock only a player of his immense confidence could pull off.
Finishing the campaign with 411 runs at an average of 41.10, with two tons and two fifties, consistency eluded him. But charisma and class found him when the team needed him most.
The other to make a name for himself was Washington Sundar.
Straight out of the Ravichandran Ashwin playbook of cricket – a tall, lanky finger spinner with undeniable prowess with the bat and a desire to be in the thick of it – Sundar has secured his future in this team.
With critical wickets at Lord’s and Old Trafford, India possess a spinner with wicket-taking potential both home and away – a hurdle that veteran Jadeja has struggled to clear recently.
More impressive was his versatility with the bat, of which we caught glimpses at The Gabba nearly five years ago.
His 101* at Old Trafford exuded doggedness, while his 53 off 46 balls in the third innings at The Oval put on display impeccable game awareness and the innate flair that flows in all the young Indian players’ veins.
The future looks bright with the likes of Jaiswal and Sundar in India’s ranks.
Root and Brook bat in a different world
When the chips are down, there is only one man that brings an air of safety to all of England – Joe Root.
But on day four, chasing 374, England’s past and present joined forces with their future, Harry Brook, to give India the fright, and fight, of their lives.
Coming together at 106-3 with India’s bowlers slowly sinking their claws deeper into the flesh of the hosts, they each played their own games, with Root’s unerring reliability complementing Brook’s barefaced ‘Bazball-ness’.
In their 195-run stand, Brook’s strokeplay harkened back to Kevin Pietersen‘s breakthrough innings of 158 at the same ground in 2005: impulsive pulls and hooks, balls laced through and over the in-field and a brashness that seemed out of place given the series-defining context of the situation.
It was the type of balanced contrast that we became so used to with Gill and Pant throughout the series, and now England were dishing out their reprise.
Brook eventually fell to an ungainly shot which saw the bat go further than the ball. As England’s number five walked off, he would have felt the game was all but done.
In an era of Test cricket where players more than ever before are encouraged to be themselves – a personal brand – the notion of toning back one’s natural impulses seems far too old-fashioned.
However, Brook’s final swing of the bat was one which ultimately brought India back into the match.
At 26, he has already achieved far more than most in the history of the game at the same point; his 111 was his 10th century in 50 innings, becoming the first player to achieve this feat in the last 70 years after West Indies’ Sir Clyde Walcott in 1955.
Players like Brook and Pant, whose temperaments are as volatile as their shot selection, must be nurtured to preserve their talismanic talents.
But, the recognition of Test cricket’s demands and match situations is something all players come to terms with eventually; for Brook, it will come.
Meanwhile Root’s 105, dedicated poignantly to his cherished mentor and friend Graham Thorpe, was scored in stereotypical Root fashion.
Brook’s dismissal gave India a glimmer of hope, but the winds of fortune blew in Gill’s favour only when Root’s wicket was claimed.
England fell tantalisingly short in the end, but Brook and Root provided one of the best partnerships of the summer in the most pressurised of situations.
Siraj’s self-belief drags India over the line
No Bumrah, no problem. At least, that is what Siraj seemed to tell himself ahead of days four and five at The Oval.
The last fully-functional seamer standing across both sides gave the performance of his life for so many reasons.
He was the senior bowler, with no Bumrah to lean on – not that he needed it. His legs would have been weary from pounding into the dirt on four flat decks before The Oval.
He carried baggage with him, being the last man to fall at Lord’s to give England a series lead as Jadeja stood despondently at the other end.
For someone who gave his all from start to finish and walked through hell for his side, he finally got his moment of glory.
With each and every ball across his 1,113 delivered this series, which included 23 wickets, Siraj’s passion and self-belief never dimmed.
India’s smiling assassin explained: ‘I usually wake up at 8, but today I woke up at 6am. I told myself I can do it today. I went on Google and searched for this image. I downloaded the image and made it the wallpaper.
‘So belief is very important.’
For that, he was rewarded with a stirring 5-104 in a fourth innings that will no doubt be spun into edge-of-the-seat yarns in years to come.
‘He’s a captain‘s dream’, Shubman Gill proudly said after the game.
Siraj’s keep-coming-at-you mentality garnered particular praise from Root, who said: ‘He’s a real warrior. He’s someone you want on your team. He always has a big smile on his face and he’ll give everything for his team.
‘You couldn’t want anything more as a fan watching, and [Siraj is] a great example to any young player starting out.’
Cricket can be a cruel mistress, unfair to the most well-meaning of players – just ask Chris Woakes. But on this occasion, the game doled out the rarest of happy endings for a player that continues to win over even his harshest critics.
The series aptly finishes 2-2
Twenty-five days, 6,736 runs, 21 hundreds, 172 wickets and 1860.4 overs later, nothing separated England and India.
Ahead of the series both sides found themselves at different junctures of their journeys.
England and Ben Stokes were settled and intentional in what they wanted to get out of this summer.
In a year that has been described as their final frontier – a home five-Test series against India followed by an Ashes tour in Australia – the heretical Bazball movement has a chance to cement its legacy after three years muddled with optimism and scepticism.
For India, they were setting foot upon a new, unfamiliar path riddled with insecurity.
Still in shell-shock after the landmark series loss at home against New Zealand last year and a series loss in Australia over the winter (their first since 2014/15), India were looking to rebuild – a phoenix from the flames of their past.
And for the first time in over a decade, there would be no Virat Kohli, no Rohit Sharma and no Ravichandran Ashwin.
Over the five Tests both sides matched each other every step of the way. The series’ predictable unpredictability became its primary attraction.
And for all the battles on the field, of which there were plenty, this series had its own peripheral skirmishes playing out to keep everyone engrossed between Test matches.
From discussions of cricketing morality, spats involving groundstaff and the naming of the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy, the ‘side missions’ in play during this series were second to none.
Records toppled with every passing day on both sides.
Root’s ascension to batting royalty in the all-time charts picked up speed as the series progressed, now behind only Sachin Tendulkar in terms of career runs.
Stokes found himself rubbing shoulders with the likes of Jacques Kallis and Sir Garfield Sobers with his all-round heroics throughout the summer.
And young Harry Brook and Jamie Smith, both of whom achieved milestones of their own, appear well-set to carry England forward in Test cricket.
For India, a nation with their finger on the pulse of personal milestones and statistics, the series saw several of their young sensations leap into the record books.
Shubman Gill finished on 754 runs, the most in a Test series for an Indian captain. Rishabh Pant scored twin tons in a single Test, joining Andy Flower as one of only two wicketkeepers to achieve this feat.
Additionally, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja accrued exceptional numbers of their own in their respective positions.
Unburdened by superstardom and brand power, this young Indian side played for one another in a way fans have not seen for some time.
‘That we never give up’, Gill described when asked what he learnt about his team in this series.
And for both sides, the bowlers toiled with almost a collective smile on their faces as though to suggest ‘we are all in this together’.
All things considered, 2-2 is the perfect ending to what has been a truly captivating Test series.
By Mohan Harihar
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