New Delhi: If anyone thought India’s pace-bowling attack would be crippled in the fifth Test in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna have proved them wrong.
Bumrah was rested for the series-concluding match against England to manage his workload and prevent another breakdown of his dodgy back.
With India trailing 1-2 going into the match, India needed to win at the Oval to square the contest and retain the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy.
England were set a 374-run target and looked on course to pull off the highest chase on the ground till Siraj and Krishna struck in the third session to bring back India into the contest.
Through his 39th Test ton and 13th against India, Joe Root (105) had put England in a strong position. He produced a 195-run partnership with Harry Brook (111), who scored his 10th Test ton.
That fourth-wicket stand put England in the box seat but Krishna (3/109) and Siraj’s (2/95) tireless efforts gave India hope as wickets of Brook and then Root meant England still needed 35 runs with only four wickets in hand when stumps were taken on the fourth day due to rain.
‘Warrior’
Root praised the efforts of India’s seamers on a day when it seemed mattered had slipped out of their hands after encouraging signs.
“He’s a character. He’s a warrior, a real warrior. He’s someone that you want in your team. He gives everything for India and it’s credit to him for that the way he approaches cricket.
“He’s got this fake anger about him sometimes, which I can see straight through. You can tell that he’s actually a really nice lad,” Root said.
“Prasidh is a proven performer, he is a brilliant player. You don’t play for India as a seamer without having a huge amount of talent and clearly he’s gonna do great things in the game.
“It wasn’t anything between the two of us that sort of brought that on, that was more frustration on my part for not getting us over the line,” the second most run-getter in Tests added.