Mohammed Siraj leads India to tie England in one of greatest cricket series

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India’s out-of-this-world six-run victory in the finale at The Oval will go down in history as one of the greatest Tests ever played.

It was pure drama from start to finish and there was a packed stadium on the fifth day at the historic venue.

Those in attendance and million others — including this columnist — who caught the action on the boob tube will have the thrills and spills of that fifth day forever etched in their minds.

If you are an Indian fan, it was 56 minutes of pure heaven. And if you belonged to the home camp it would likely be 56 minutes of hell. But for a neutral fan this was cricket at its very best.

This wasn’t a Twenty20 bang-a-ball match, but a Test encounter and you would never know it — and we may never see anything like this again.

India came back to grab this epic victory and force a 2-2 tie in one of the hardest, closest-fought series. It will be a summer that won’t soon be forgotten soon as fans of the sport were treated to a rivalry that was so intense that it went down to the wire after nearly seven weeks of non-stop action.

England, led by the mercurial Ben Stokes, and India, captained by 25-year-old newcomer Shubman Gill, went at it hammer and tongs and, in the end, it was probably fitting that these two finely tuned squads settled for a draw.

What unfolded at The Oval on the fifth day was pure, sheer drama that will earn itself a place in sport’s most prized moments.

England arrived on the final day of a classic summer Test needing 35 runs with four wickets in hand in its chase of 374, but were blown away on a morning of unbearable tension and true sporting drama.

India struck back to take those last four wickets for 28 runs thanks to the brilliance of pace bowler Mohammad Siraj.

Siraj, who has had to toil in the shadows of superstar Jasprit Bumrah and Shami, finally made his mark and he will be feted by millions when he returns home. Siraj stamped his name in history with his third wicket of the morning, a gut-busting fifth of the innings and 23rd of the series.

Apart from Siraj’s heroics, few will forget the brave Chris Woakes, who had his arm in a sling following dislocating his shoulder earlier in the game. He walked out in a desperate attempt to win before Siraj ended this series by uprooting Atkinson’s stump with a yorker.

“It has been one of the all-time best Test matches,” England coach Brendon McCullum remarked.

“We turned up today with high hopes, but Mohammad Siraj and the passion of the Indian boys was too strong and ultimately they deserve to win this Test match,” he added.

Scores: India 224 (Karun Nair 57, Gus Atkinson five for 33) and 396 (Yashvasi Jaiswal 118, Josh Tongue five for 125) beat England 247 (Zak Crawley 64, Harry Brook 53) and 367 (Brook 111, Joe Root 105, Ben Duckett 54, Prasidh Krishna four for 62, Siraj four for 84).

B.C. TO HOST TOURNEY

Fans will be disappointed there will be no Global T20 League in Brampton this August, instead action shifts to the iconic BC Place in Vancouver that will host the first-ever edition of the Canada Super 60 tournament in October.

The official announcement that the Global T20 League would not be played here in 2025 was made two weeks ago by Patrick Brown, mayor of Brampton, but readers of this column were made aware of the cancellation in an exclusive story in Postmedia editions on May 18.

What was unknown to Brown and others is that the International Cricket Council, the governing body of the sport, had refused to sanction the tournament.

Instead, Cricket Canada was to have staged the Canada Super 60 at the same CAA Centre in July, but that was shelved too as it apparently did not get the go-ahead from the ICC.

Cricket Canada has been on ICC’s radar for at least a year now since it installed Salman Khan as its CEO even though he was charged by Calgary Police with theft and fraud involving over $5,000 arising during his time with the Calgary and District Cricket League from 2014 to 2016.

Two months ago, a high-powered ICC anti-corruption team spent two weeks in Toronto talking to several Cricket Canada officials regarding illegal betting, match-and-spot-fixing involving the national team.

Meanwhile, Cricket Canada has roped in Yuvraj Singh, one of India’s greatest batsmen, as its mouthpiece for the tournament.

“BC Place is not just a stadium; it’s a theatre of dreams,” the former India World Cup star said. “Vancouver is a city that thrives on nature, diversity, and culture — and cricket on the West Coast is going to ignite a whole new fan base.”

It will be interesting to see how fans react to an indoor setting with shorter boundaries.

One thing is for sure: There will be a glut of sixes being scored.

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