India captain Shubman Gill lauded the effort put in by his team to register a historic win over England at the Oval on Monday, August 4. India defeated England in the fifth Test by six runs despite looking down and out to secure a 2-2 parity.
With England only 73 runs away from a win and having seven wickets in hand, India had almost no chance of pulling it off; however, the bowlers forged a remarkable comeback to put England under pressure and then pull off a miracle.
The hosts lost Brook on 111, before losing Jacob Bethell and Joe Root on Day 4 to bring the visitors back into the game. Going into the fifth day, England had a slight edge as they needed only 35 runs and had four wickets in hand, including that of the injured Chris Woakes.
However, Mohammed Siraj led a brilliant fight from the Indians on the final day as he picked three of the final four wickets to take a five-wicket haul and lead India to a win for the ages. Prasidh Krishna also contributed well, having picked up four wickets in the innings, including the one of Josh Tongue on the final day.
India test captain Gill reacted to the victory, stating the effort put in by the players reflect what this team is all about. "What we did this morning kind of summarised what this team is all about. 70 odd runs, seven wickets in hand. The way Brooke and Root were going, not many teams in the world would have given themselves a chance," Gill said in the post-match press conference.
"But this team believes that whenever we have some kind of an opening, we can get through that opening. That's what we were talking about once Brooke was out, and then we got an early wicket of Bethell, that this is our opening, and let's try to build pressure on them... When you've got bowlers like him (Siraj) bowling, it makes your job as a captain very easy. You're just standing out there, and you just want to appreciate their bowling," he added.
