India, 224 & 396, beat England, 247-9 & 367 by six runs
Woakes sent out in sling for dramatic finale to 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.
