IND vs ENG: Mohammad Siraj's mistake cost India heavily, Harry Brook and Joe Root brought England closer to victory

Posted on 4th Aug 2025 by rohit kumar

On the strength of Harry Brook and Joe Root's centuries, England has brought their team closer to victory in the fifth and final Test match played at The Oval ground in London. England had to score 374 runs to win, which they would have scored in the last session on the fourth day on Sunday, but when they were 35 runs away from victory, the game was stopped due to poor light, and then stumps were declared due to rain.

 

The umpires waited for some time, but the rain did not stop, and then the stumps were declared. By the end of the day's play, England had scored 339 runs after losing six wickets.

 

Harry Brook played a stormy innings and pushed India on the backfoot. India would have got his wicket earlier, but Mohammad Siraj took his catch at fine leg on the ball of Prasidh Krishna, and his foot touched the boundary. This proved to be the turning point of this match for India, and then Brook scored runs at a stormy pace and scored a century. He scored 111 runs off 98 balls with the help of 14 fours and two sixes.

 

Former England captain Joe Root supported him. Together, they shared a 195-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Root scored the 39th century of his Test career. He faced 152 balls and scored 105 runs with the help of 12 fours.

 

India slipped after a good start.

 

England started the day with the loss of one wicket. Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope started troubling India. Duckett scored fast and completed his half-century, shortly after which he fell prey to Prasidh Krishna. He scored 54 runs off 83 balls with the help of six fours. Mohammad Siraj then got Ollie Pope LBW on his excellent inswing. Pope scored 27 runs off 34 balls with the help of five fours.

 

Brook and Root settled.

 

After this, Harry Brook and Joe Root set foot on the wicket. India would have got Brook's wicket, but Siraj's mistake messed things up. This mistake proved to be the one that broke Team India. From here, the body language of the Indian team looked desperate. It seemed as if India was just completing the time. On the other hand, Root and Brook were scoring runs at their own pace. Every run of Brook was hurting Siraj and causing pain to India.

 

Siraj did trouble Root with his balls, but could not take his wicket. Meanwhile, Brook had completed his century. Shortly after this, he was caught by Siraj on the ball of Akashdeep. However, it was too late by then. Brook's wicket fell at a total score of 301, and from here England needed only 73 runs to win.

 

Root's century

When the second session ended, Root was at 98 runs and England needed 57 runs to win. Jacob Bethell was playing with him. Root completed his century in the third session. Krishna gave the fifth blow to England by dismissing Bethell. He could score only five runs. Then Root also got caught by Dhruv Jurel on Krishna's ball. After some time, the game was stopped due to poor light, and then stumps were declared.

 

India played the first innings of this match and scored 224 runs. England's batsmen did not do much against the Indian bowlers in the first innings, and the whole team collapsed for 247 runs. India scored 396 runs in its second innings based on Yashasvi Jaiswal's 118, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar's 53-53 runs, and gave a strong score to England, which it achieved and won the series.