Oval Test’s dramatic final act: Siraj, Siuuuu and the six-run redemption

NEW DELHI, AUG 4 : “I believe in Jassi Bhai,” Mohammed Siraj had said after India’s T20 World Cup win. But today, there was no Jassi Bhai. No Jasprit Bumrah to lean on. India stood at the edge, going into the last match trailing 1-2 down. One last chance to save the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy and all eyes were on Siraj.

Across the series, he bowled 185 overs, never dropping below 130 kmph. And when the final wicket stood between India and a chance at redemption, he tore in one last time — at 143 kmph in his 186th over. Gus Atkinson had no answer. The stump was rattled to give Siraj his fifth wicket of the innings and 23rd of the series, the highest by any bowler.

Later, in a voice filled with both excitement and calmness, he said what his bowling had already screamed:

“I believe in myself, and I always believe I can win the game in any situation”.

No Jassi Bhai. No excuses.

Of the five wickets Siraj took, three came on the final day as India edged out England by just six runs, their narrowest Test victory ever, levelling the series 2-2 in a contest that will be spoken of in heartbeats, not scorecards, even though the numbers, too, told India’s story.

But Siraj was not alone. Prasidh Krishna delivered four crucial wickets that gave India stability amid all the chaos.

Together, they turned a crumbling moment into a triumph. An edge-of-the-seat finish powered by pace, resolve, and the kind of belief you would get from a yellow poster above a locker room door that would make Coach Lasso proud.

This was redemption, this was an uphill battle that India knew they had to win.

India’s Mohammed Siraj and India’s Dhruv Jurel celebrate their win against England on day five of the fifth cricket test match between England and India at The Kia Oval in London, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025.

By Day 4, it felt like England had already written the ending – Root and Brook notching up centuries with ease, the scoreboard tilting heavily in their favour.

India looked done, out of luck and then came the third session — a flicker, a spark, and then fire.

Prasidh Krishna carved open the middle order with two quick blows, Akash Deep added a third, and just like that, the door that was shut close had blown wide open.

England still needed only 35 at Stumps on Day 4.

Day 5 broke with a single demand, the kind that echoes in motivational Instagram reels and training montages, a line very usually accompanied with Eminem’s Sing for the Moment: “It’s not over until I win.” And that is exactly what India did.

They came out not with caution, but with fury, a quickfire of pace, pressure, and belief. What followed wasn’t just a win. It was a resurrection.

Both for India and for Siraj as well.

India’s Mohammed Siraj celebrates the dismissal of England’s Gus Atkinson on day five of the fifth cricket test match between England and India at The Kia Oval in London, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025.

India’s Mohammed Siraj celebrates the dismissal of England’s Gus Atkinson on day five of the fifth cricket test match between England and India at The Kia Oval in London, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025.(Photo | AP)

“I thought the match had slipped away. If he had gone yesterday, the match would have looked completely different,” Siraj said about the catch that he took, only to step on the boundary line to give Harry Brook a new lease of life when he was batting on 19.

 “I thought about it as it was a game-changing moment, but the way we fought back was commendable. When I woke up this morning, I said to myself, I will change the game and googled an emoji of ‘believe’ and put it on my wallpaper,” Siraj told Cheteshwar Pujara after the match.

The man haunted by that missed opportunity, the man who had fallen defending a ball that sealed a narrow 22- run defeat at Lord’s.

But the same hands that let off Brook rose in triumph.

As one user wrote on X, beneath an image of him at Lord’s, “The best thing about time is its change. It never lets pain stay forever.”

Following the final wicket, Siraj broke into a ‘Siuuuu’ – the iconic celebration associated with one of the football greats, Cristiano Ronaldo, who also happens to be on Siraj’s phone wallpaper along with the word “BELIEVE”.

No wonder Sunil Gavaskar called it “bigger than Gabba” – a win that, in spirit and scale, eclipsed India’s famous triumph at Australia’s fortress, where a squad had scripted history despite most of the senior team members missing the game. This time, it felt even more personal.

Tempers had already begun to boil in the tense final hour of the fourth Test.

Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, both nearing centuries, declined Ben Stokes’ offer to settle for a draw. With Jadeja on 89 and Sundar on 80, they chose fight over formality, a decision that left a frustrated Stokes, who did not play in the last Test match, making a jibe: “Do you want to score a hundred against Harry Brook?”

For Gill and Co., this is a new beginning, a reminder that no game is lost until the last ball is bowled, and no team is done until it stops believing.

-PTI