India pulled off a miraculous win from the jaws of defeat by just 6 runs in the final Test of the five-match series against England at the Kennington Oval in London.
This was a massive win for India as they drew 2-2, and shared the inaugural Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy with England. There were two Player of the Series, as is the tradition in England right now. The opposition head coach Brendon McCullum picked Shubman Gill as the Player of the Series award for India. However, former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has revealed that the England head coach wanted to give the prestigious prize to Mohammed Siraj.
In an interaction with Cricbuzz, Dinesh Karthik revealed that Brendon McCullum had given the name of Shubman Gill on Day 4 of the match, as it was presumed that the match would end on that day itself. However, rain forced the match to end on Day 5, and Micheal Atherton, who was supposed to hand over the prizes, had all the names ready, keeping in mind the decision that McCullum had already made.
“If the match had gotten over yesterday (Day 4), Shubman Gill was the man of the series. Brendon McCullum had said Shubman Gill. And obviously, Atherton [Mike Atherton] was the one doing the presentation. So, he had all the questions ready. Everything was for Shubman Gill,” Karthik said.
However, Mohammed Siraj’s performance forced McCullum to change his mind as he wanted to award the prize to the 31-year-old fast bowler. However, the decision had already been made by then.
“Baz McCullum turned it around in a matter of half an hour, 40 minutes – to Mohammed Siraj, He even spoke about him in the post-match with Sky Sports – about how he enjoyed watching Siraj bowl and all the eloquent things he had to say about him,” Karthik added.
Mohammed Siraj had a brilliant series with the ball, finishing as the highest wicket-taker in the series with 23 scalps. He also bowled 185.3 overs, the most by any bowler. In the fifth Test, he won the Player of the Match award for picking up 9 wickets across the two innings.