Ravi Shastri lauds India’s tactical brilliance on final day of Oval Test against England

Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri showered praise on India’s tactical brilliance on the final day of the fifth Test match at Kennington Oval against England. The visitors only had 35 runs left in the bank and England were in a shoo-in position as they had four wickets in hand.

However, Mohammed Siraj was able to deliver for the visitors as he took three wickets. Siraj accounted for Jamie Smith, Jamie Overton, and Gus Atkinson whereas Prasidh Krishna accounted for Josh Tongue.

Siraj returned with figures of 5-104 in the second innings, whereas Prasidh Krishna bagged 4-126. Indian captain Shubman Gill was also able to get the field right, as he had boundary riders.

Ravi Shastri said on Sky Sports, “Sheer blood and guts from players from both the teams. You had to dig deep because there was tension from everywhere. And for Shubman Gill, in his first series as captain, to keep his cool and I thought India were very sound tactically when they came out. They kept the ball out and made the England players reach out and feel for it and set fields accordingly.”

“They made sure the boundaries could go only square of the wicket and nothing into the stumps, where they could hit down the ground. And I thought they were first-class.”

England got off to a good start as Overton got two boundaries against Krishna. However, Mohammed Siraj was able to get the big wicket of Jamie Smith in his first over. 

Former England fast bowler Stuart Broad said Smith’s early wicket set the tone for India.

“England would have been really confident this morning but as soon as Jamie Smith nicked that one, it set the tone. It probably did a little bit more than I thought it was going to this morning. Huge skill shown by Siraj and Krishna to get that ball moving and keeping it in the channel without allowing clips off the legs. As soon as the wicket of Jamie Smith fell, the tension escalated,” said Broad (via the aforementioned source).

India was able to tick the right boxes on the final day to register a historic win.