Oval Thriller - A Match Etched In Cricketing Folklore

The historic Oval cricket ground - venue of the first ever Test match in England in 1880 and our first Test win on English soil in 1971, witnessed as thrilling an end to a Test series as one could see. When you enter the final day of a two-month long 5 Test tour with multiple result options and split honours at the end, it is testament to the equivalence of the two sides and which in turn makes for an absorbing contest.

The latest India-England Test series rechristened as Tendulkar-Anderson series, cumulatively, and the Oval Test specifically, will rank high up amongst our cricketing glories. English summer has always been testing for a Test tour. The pitches are usually lively, the duke ball often does a little more, there is an element of caprice in the weather - bright and sunny one hour to overcast and heavy the other - from batting friendly conditions to those ripe for swing and seam within a day, these are too far removed from playing conditions in India making adaptability that much more challenging. Little surprise then that in almost 100 years - played our first Test match in 1932, we have only won three Test series in England - 1971, 1986 and 2007.

While we couldn’t win this one, the final result seems no less than a victory. We put up tremendous resistance to draw the penultimate game at Manchester and kept the series alive. From two down for nothing on day four evening to batting out 4 sessions in the face of a daunting 300-run deficit, was a stupendous batting effort. The last match at The Oval, despite oscillating for three days, was all but lost on day four after Root and Brook put on a 200-run partnership. Our bowlers responded to the demand and from three wickets down for over 300, bowled the opposition out 6 runs short of target. In terms of runs, our narrowest margin of win.

Quintessential team effort was the stand-out feature of the tour. Several players at different times rose to the occasion. It is always more heartening when the desired result is an outcome of an aptly working team combination than individual brilliance. In the past too, there have been moments of glory that could be termed as a function of team effort - the 2021 Test series win in Australia, the T20 World Cup last year or the Champions Trophy earlier this year - cricket is after all a team sport. Yet the latest triumph is especially gratifying because it was achieved without the presence of our vaunted stars. Bumrah is undoubtedly amongst the best bowlers in the world, noteworthy however is that the two Tests we won were those where he did not participate. Pant is a prodigious talent, our team still not only overcame his absence to win the last Test, we also saved the fourth Test despite his injury. I cannot think of better examples of bench strength.

This series had all - intensity, emotion, competition and quality performance. Pant playing with an injured finger and a fractured toe in Manchester or Woakes coming out with a dislocated shoulder on the last day went beyond sporting brilliance or endurance into the pantheon of exalted acts of valour. Matches were all evenly contested with each being alive till the last day. It was a splendid spectacle of Test match cricket.

We witnessed so many outstanding performances that paucity of space does not permit writing. Siraj albeit deserves a mention - he emerged as the highest wicket taker, only fast bowler who played all five matches, filling the void of Bumrah’s absence. After the heartbreak at Lord’s where he was the last man out or the reprieve he gave to Brook by overstepping the fence on day four at Oval, his sublime spell on the last day seemed fitting redemption induced as much by divine intervention as his own prowess.

Such long intense tours have varied takeaways. The crests are worthy of rejoice but troughs mustn’t be ignored either. Our middle order is far from settled. A top team cannot ignore inconsistency from specialist middle-order batsmen and expect all-rounders coming lower down to prop the score. We need more fast bowling options - besides Bumrah, work load management may also require resting Siraj for example. Jadeja and Washington for all their superlatives with the bat did not seem remotely close to Ashwin as a spinner. Leaving out the only specialist spinner Kuldeep Yadav in favour of all-rounders or an extra batsman is veering towards a safety-first approach that may not always pay dividends. Our catching was far from world class. It’s high time the tail started to wag, batsmen can have a career without bowling but bowlers will always be required to bat - such is the format of the game.

The final 2-2 score line may seem satisfactory, the ardent supporter cannot resist imagining that with little alertness and some rub of the green, it could even have been 4-0 in our favour. This team’s resilience and pugnacity prompts the aficionados to dream that big.

The mental fortitude of the squad was best reflected in comments made by man of the series - captain Gill and man of the match at The Oval - Siraj. In independent conversations - Gill’s one liner to describe his team - “we never give up” , while Siraj talked about having belief. Uncanny similarity in their remarks and a microcosm of the mindset.

This wasn’t another day in the park. It will be a part of our folklore. Well done Team India and way to go.