Boria Majumdar in London
You live for these moments. To cover and write about them. At the start of Day 5, I had said it was 75-25 in England’s favour, but had added that the cricket gods couldn’t have been more unkind on Mohammed Siraj. He deserved the miracle and who knows, if there was a final twist left in the tale.
Many had since written to me that the words turned prophetic. The truth is I was most pleasantly surprised to see the unreal intensity that Siraj brought out. He could have taken a wicket every ball. I’d say the same for Prasidh Krishna, except for the first ball of the day, which was pulled by Jamie Overton for a boundary.
Thereafter, it was all India. It was as if they wanted to be there. To soak it all in and give it their all. They wanted the win, while England looked timid. Jamie Smith the maverick, who started the series so well, tapered out and looked nervous. You don’t win these contests if you are scared and that’s what happened. The fear of failure had taken over England and India were all over them. Brutal, flawless deliverance of killer blows in the end it was.
First it was Smith. The perfect out-swinger and all he could do was edge it to Dhruv Jurel. I have no idea what umpire Kumar Dharmasena wanted to check, for the dismissal was as clean as a whistle. We hadn’t settled down thereafter and to all our amazement, the next ball had taken the edge of Gus Atkinson and was travelling at speed to KL Rahul. He dived forward but it landed just short. Things had turned manic at the Oval. The finale was getting better and the climax was cinematic.
Overton, who never looked in after that first-ball boundary, was the next to go. The ball came in and Dharmasena after a long and hard look decided to raise the finger. It was leg-stump umpire’s call and things had evened out for Siraj. That’s how sport is and if you stay true, it always gives you back. Siraj was in business and so were India.
Now it was Josh Tongue. Atkinson did try to farm the strike but it was a bit too much. He exposed Tongue against Prasidh and after a DRS that went against him, Prasidh did not leave things to chance. He set him up by pushing the fielder deep and much like Siraj against Zak Crawley, nailed him with a yorker. All three stumps flattened, India were one hit away.
By this time, the crowd was so loud we couldn’t hear the next person in the press overflow area. Journalists were asked not to move from their seats and each one of us had turned superstitious. A colleague, who had gone to the washroom, was given a mouthful for doing so. It could happen any moment. Woakes couldn’t face a ball and England had to take chances. Jurel missed a run-out chance, but then India had Siraj. He nailed another full ball and Atkinson was knocked over. So were England. India made it 2-2 and the finale could beat any blockbuster.
Truth be told, pleased that I was there to cover it. One for the ages.
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