India's Siraj 'woke up believing' ahead of Test heroics

Yahoo

6 hours ago

Mohammed Siraj said he never lost faith in his own ability to deliver a sensational victory for India in the fifth and deciding Test at the Oval on Monday.
England, set 374 to win, lost a nail-biting encounter by just six runs, with Siraj returning innings figures of 5-104 as India ended a rollercoaster campaign level at 2-2.
The hosts resumed on Monday's final day on 339-6, needing just 35 more runs for a win that would have given them a 3-1 series success.
But they had no answer to the enduring skill of fast bowler Siraj, who featured in all five games.
He undid England on Monday with a brilliant burst of 3-9 in 25 balls, ending the match in style when he knocked over Gus Atkinson's off-stump.
"From the first day until the fifth game, fifth day, we have fought an unbelievable fight," said Siraj, who bowled a marathon 185.3 overs during the series.
"God must have written something good for me, that's why I won this match and took the last wicket.
"When I woke up today, I thought I could do it. I downloaded a picture from Google saying 'believe'."
The 31-year-old was named player of the match after an overall return of 9-190.
Siraj redeemed himself in spectacular fashion after stepping over the boundary rope on Sunday in the act of catching Harry Brook, thereby conceding a six.
Brook (111) and Joe Root (105) took the game by the scruff of the neck with a fourth-wicket stand of 195, putting England on course for victory.
"I thought the Brook drop was a game-changing moment," said Siraj the leading bowler on either side in the series with 23 wickets at 32.43.
"If it had been taken, we might not have come out today."
India captain Shubman Gill, alongside Siraj at a post-match press conference, jokingly added: "If he had taken the catch, the game would have been too easy for us."
England were in command at 301-3 and on course to break the record run chase in the fourth innings of an Oval Test of 263-9 that has stood since 1902.
- England collapse -
But India fought back superbly, taking England's last seven wickets for just 66 runs.
"What we did this morning kind of summarised what this team is all about," said Gill.
"The way Brook and Root were going, not many teams in the world would have given themselves a chance, but this team believes that whenever we have some kind of an opening, we can get through."
Gill's first series as India captain was a personal triumph as he scored a mammoth 754 runs, including four centuries.
"Each hundred that I scored had a very different significance," said the 25-year-old. "The one in Leeds was my first match (as captain), I was under a bit of pressure.
"Then the double hundred and the hundred in Birmingham (where India won the second Test), to be able to seal that match was also special and the one in Manchester (in the drawn fourth Test), to be able to save that game from there, each of them has a story and each of them means a lot to me."
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