England and injured Woakes denied as India win fifth Test thriller to draw series

Left arm in a sling, face wrought with agony, Chris Woakes could only look on helplessly from the far end as Mohammed Siraj detonated Gus Atkinson’s off stump at 11.56am on Monday to seal a six-run triumph for India and end one of the most intense hours of Test cricket ever witnessed.

A series that seemed to have it all saved its very best for last, a mini-session of unrivalled gut-twisting drama that instantly went down as an all-time classic. Needing 35 runs to chase down 374, four wickets in hand, England collapsed in a wall of Indian noise inside a packed Oval and the first Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy was shared with a 2-2 scoreline.

It was fitting Siraj should be the man to land the final blow, India’s firecracker the only fast bowler to go the distance in a series that chewed players up and spat them out over 25 gruelling days. England had been cruising home a day earlier, driven by centuries from Harry Brook and Joe Root, only for Siraj to bend the script to his will with a five-wicket haul.

Woakes was the only other seamer to play all five, but a dislocated shoulder on day one left him a bystander until, on the fall of Josh Tongue’s wicket, 17 runs still needed, he walked down the steps to a standing ovation. Injured left arm hidden under his cable-knit, bat in one hand, one of England’s most selfless cricketers answered his country’s call.

But this was India’s day, one when the lap of honour Shubman Gill led his side on for levelling a series felt anything but self-indulgent. From the moment Woakes had the tourists none for two on the fourth day in Manchester – 300-plus runs behind and 2-1 down – they fought tooth and nail to earn a deserved share of the spoils.

View image in fullscreen India’s Mohammed Siraj (right) appeals successfully for the wicket of England’s Jamie Smith. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Woakes did not face a ball, but the simple running was leaving him in serious distress every time. Atkinson protected his partner as the pair scampered a bye, a two, and single to keep it that way, while one full-blooded heave was tipped over the boundary for six by Akash Deep.

One more would have tied the scores, but Siraj, the man who turned a grey, mizzly morning in south London into a seismic psychodrama removing Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton cheaply, could not be denied. Twenty-thousand people watched 56 minutes of action and walked out with jaws on the ground.

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View image in fullscreen India’s Akash Deep (left) and Prasidh Krishna (right) hold the stumps and Mohammed Siraj holds the match ball after taking five wickets. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

England’s Ben Stokes, who missed the fifth-Test decider with a shoulder injury of his own, hurt for his team but accepted the conclusion was deserved.

“The series as a whole has been pretty much toe to toe for 25 days. From a cricket fan’s point of view, 2-2 is probably fair,” he said. “Two very good teams who have thrown everything at each other and left everything out there. We obviously would have loved to get a series win but it wasn’t meant to be.

“We’re bitterly disappointed we couldn’t get over the line but it was another hard-fought game and both teams put so much energy and effort into the series, it’s been an amazing one to be part of. There’s a little bit of frustration there as well but as a massive advocate of this format and for Test cricket as a whole, this has certainly been one of those series that could hopefully keep off the narrative around ‘Test cricket is dying’.”

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