A 2-2 series result seems fair, for a 1-3 loss would have been cruelly unjust --- especially to Siraj, who bowled 185.3 overs in the series for 23 wickets and never seemed to give up belief.
Drama in the most dramatic of series isn't over yet!
The ground brought sanity to the wild, soaring numbers for the batters in the series. The wicket had grass, and it made the batters struggle.
England still have hopes of winning this game. This prognosis is based on their fourth innings exploits over the last three years and the fact that India galloped to 321 runs in 70 overs, suggesting the wicket isn't particularly tricky. However, the big difference from Leeds in June this year, or Birmingham in 2022, is that this track still has plenty of juice.
After hundreds upon hundreds of runs on flat tracks in the ongoing series so far, it took the green top at The Oval to finally produce the best day of the Indian summer, on the fifth and last Friday of the Test series.
Siraj was the day's hero and India have pulled ahead, but England are not out of the contest by any stretch of imagination.
'We obviously want to wheel him in, but we also want to respect where his body's at, and on the basis of that, we just felt that it wasn't worth including him in the squad.'
Even as the conditions changed, bright sunshine alternating with gloom, the Indian batters gritted their teeth and fought it out.
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