London: The maddest passage of play in the lifetime of most spectators — and even media veterans — at The Oval unfolded in unbelievable events in 56 minutes, summing up the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, a series of surprises.
Monday morning, a bit after 11 am, Jamie Overton, who was jittery and nervous on Sunday evening, barely able to put bat to ball and having got 0 off six, got a short ball from Prasidh Krishna — it nicely sat up to be smashed, and Overton did just that. Next ball was pitched up. Overton, emboldened by the easy four, drove — inside edge past the leg stump, and four! Target down from 35 to 27 in the blink of an eye, and the Indians groaned in dismay for their hopes were dying.
Then came Siraj, the wild-eyed practitioner of the deadly art of wobbled-ball seam bowling that pins batsmen LBW, who grins a charming several-toothed grin when he’s happy. The wily Hyderabadi kept the ball away from Jamie Smith’s bat — he wanted Smith to reach out to the ball, not give him easy contact with the bat, for that’s always a confidence-booster to a fresh batsman. Twice Smith reached out for the ball, twice he missed — but not the third time! He nicked it, and everyone heard it, and everyone saw the ball change its path ever so slightly after touching the bat’s edge — but Smith didn’t walk, and umpire Kumar Dharmasena didn’t raise his finger!
The Indians were incredulous. Dharmasena asked the TV umpire to adjudicate — and Smith, willy-nilly, had to walk. Next ball, Gus Atkinson too reached out to the ball outside off to turn it to the leg side — edged and short of KL Rahul at second slip! Atkinson only managed to squirt the final ball off the leading edge past point and scamper for two — target down to 25, or four lusty shots to tie the scores.
Seventy-ninth over, Krishna mixed his lengths and Overton and Atkinson went for their shots, the target down to 21.
Siraj continued to eschew his deadly ball — the inducker off the seam — and swung it away from the right-handers. Atkinson got beaten again and again but survived — Overton did not! Fifth ball, Siraj bowled his inducker with a wobbly seam and it came in sharply and hit Overton’s pad. Dharmasena took his time and raised his finger. The crowd went wild — the Bharat Army bunch, gathered in force in the stands at the Vauxhall End, beat the dhol to Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’, they shrieked and shouted and danced in the stands and aisles. England 354/8, 20 short of victory, but India were effectively one wicket away: Chris Woakes, in his whites and ready to bat, but with a dislocated shoulder, was going to be a sitting duck — surely, he would not be able to keep the ball out of his wicket if he had to come down to bat.
Wicket-maiden, 1 run, 1 run — India tightened the screws and England, practically just one wicket away from defeat, became a bit circumspect.
Wisely, Shubman Gill, who has wisened and aged much through his 25 days of captaining India, decided not to take the new ball, which became available after 22 balls on Monday morning —“I thought we could do the job with a ball that was 84 overs old, why take the new ball!” he said later.
It was the final ball of the 83rd that brought in the brave Woakes, his left arm in a sling, which was tucked inside his sweater. Sixth ball, Krishna bowled a full one and made a mess of Josh Tongue’s stumps — 357/9, England 17 short of a win.
Mercifully, Woakes didn’t have to take strike, and Siraj began the 84th — and another mad moment on the second ball as Atkinson slogged, and six! At the midwicket boundary, Akash Deep, too far into the field, only palmed the ball over the boundary as he backtracked and leapt! England now needed 11. Atkinson refused the singles and tried to hit the ball high and wide and missed; final ball, Woakes, clearly in pain, sneaked a bye --- Dhruv Jurel gathered the ball but could not hit the stumps to run him out! Why didn’t Jurel take off his right glove beforehand? Siraj seemed livid in anger. “He had told me to ask Jurel to take off his glove, but by the time I told Jurel, Siraj was already in his run-up and Jurel could not take it off then,” Gill said later.
Next over from Krishna, all men on the boundary, Atkinson slogged and missed again and again, and calmly tapped the ball for a single to retain the strike for the 86th over. Strangely, Gill kept the men at the boundary and let Atkinson take the single — the idea, he said, was to ensure he didn’t hit a four if the field had been brought in.
Eighty-sixth over from Siraj — the man who dropped Harry Brook on 19 yesterday, the man who was the last man out at Lord’s as India lost — and fittingly, it was he who pulled the curtain down on this magnificent match, with a low full toss. Atkinson, trying to go for the glory slog, missed it — wickets smashed!
Siraj, the only pacemen from either side who played in all Tests, consistently clocked over 140 km/h on the final day, moving the ball both ways. The stumps in disarray, he screamed his delight and did his impersonation of Cristiano Ronaldo in his celebration!