India scripted a remarkable comeback to edge England by six runs at The Oval and level the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2-2. On a dramatic fifth day, Mohammed Siraj’s fiery five-wicket haul turned the tide as England faltered in their chase of 367. Here’s how the players reacted after a gripping finale:
🗣 Shubman Gill
(India Captain & Player of the Series)
On the match and the series:
“Definitely both the teams played brilliantly throughout the series. Both the teams came up with their A-game, happy to get on the right side today. When you have bowlers like Siraj and Prasidh, captaincy seems easy. They were making the ball talk. Yes, there was a bit of pressure on us but they were really bowling well. We were confident. We wanted them to feel the pressure throughout the 367 runs they scored.
He [Siraj] is a captain’s dream, every ball, every spell he bowled he came all out and gave it everything for the team. Both teams coming into Day 5 not knowing who would win shows how passionate both teams were and how hard everyone has played.”
On his performance:
“Feels very rewarding, there were certain things I wanted to work on as a batter and it was a goal to end as the best batter of this series, glad to get that goal. It is always a combination of technique and mentality, when you are feeling good mentally then the technique naturally flows.”
On what he learned through the series:
“That we never give up.”
🗣 Ben Stokes
(England Captain)
On the match:
“It’s obviously always difficult when you can’t participate in the game. Another hard fought game, down to Day 5, both teams have put in so much energy and effort into it. Bitterly disappointed we couldn’t get over the line. But really proud of my team with everything they’ve put in. Disappointed we couldn’t get the series win.
When it got to the situation it did, there was no question in Woakesy’s (Chris Woakes) mind (about batting). He spent yesterday thinking about which way around he was going to bat. We’ve got guys who’ve gone out there and played with broken fingers and broken feet. It shows how much it means to these players to play for their countries.”
On the spicy nature of the series:
“I’m very proud of what the players have done and I’m sure Shubman is too. India-England is always a big series, you get so much emotion. We won’t be going to our bed crying about what was said (on the field) and neither would the Indian players, it’s all part of the passion.”
On his injury and team effort:
“Worked incredibly hard to be able to go out there and fulfill my role as an allrounder. Disappointed I had to miss out on this game. Time to rehab and wait for the big one now (The Ashes). When one of your bowlers goes down so early in the game, everyone’s else role changes.
The heart and the desire the big fellows kept showing in that second innings was tremendous. All we ask from the guys is for them to leave everything out on the field. Not ideal when one of your bowlers goes down but it was a tremendous effort from our three fast bowlers.”
🗣 Harry Brook
(England’s Player of the Series – selected by Gautam Gambhir)
On the match:
“Came into the day very confident. Had two very good players out there at the time and thought they’d easily see it home. The way India bowled today, they deserve every success. We thought the bowlers would stiffen up a bit and the pitch would flatten out a bit.
Siraj has played every game of the series and has bowled every ball 85+mph, respect him a lot. He was always going to go out, massive credit to him.
Unfortunate, we couldn’t get over the line. So many things you can think in hindsight, we were obviously going so well, if we could’ve got a couple of big overs when I was going then the game was done. We’ve seen collapses in this series. My thought process was just to hit as many runs as quickly as possible.
If we needed 40 runs when I and Rooty were out there and I got out, the game would’ve still been ours. Hindsight’s a beautiful thing, now that I think about it, I probably shouldn’t have played that shot.”
On the series:
“It’s been an awesome series, very intense series, we’ve been knackered after everything. We’ve put everything out there, we’ve enjoyed every moment of it even though the result didn’t go our way today. It’s such a good advert for Test cricket.”
🗣 Mohammed Siraj
(Player of the Match)
“To be honest, it feels amazing. We wanted to fight hard from Day 1 and to see this result is great. The plan was to keep it simple and hit one spot. When I woke up today I believed that I could do it. I took a photo from Google saying ‘believe’ and put it as my wallpaper.
If I had taken that (Brook) catch properly probably we may not have had to come today. But Brook played really well. It was a heart-breaking moment. He was just telling me to middle the ball. Remember you Father and the hardwork you have put in to get here.”
🗣 KL Rahul
(Senior India Player)
On Test cricket and the drawn series:
“It (Test cricket) means absolutely everything. I have played cricket for a while. We won the Champions Trophy. I have seen India lifting the World Cup, nothing compares to lifting the World Cup.
But so many doubts, so many questions about whether Test cricket will stay or not. I think both the teams with the way we have played the series I guess have answered the question.
For us as a team that wasn’t given a chance in the series, for us to fight back and fight every game and get a result of 2-2…Might seem like a draw but for us and for Indian Test cricket going into the future, this will rank right at the top and this is where the change begins and the team will win a lot more series outside of India. The whole team deserves it.”
On playing the role of a senior:
“Once I joined the team, it hit me (Not having the senior players around). To look around and not see them (Rohit, Virat and Ashwin) felt a bit weird. Everyone came to me and asked me about conditions and that is when it hit me that okay, I have stepped into a different role to help the younger guys and use all the experience and really put my hand up and stand up for this team.
Shubman has been phenomenal. He has really led from the front. Has worked really hard with the boys. He has been tactically really good. The changes he has made have always got us wickets somehow. He will grow further. He is here to stay as a leader and take this Indian Test team to great heights.”
