After 25 Days of Toil, It Is Even-Stevens

ENGLAND were only 35 runs shy of winning the final Test and the five-match series 3-1 when the play resumed here at the Oval on Monday morning.

- FIROZ MIRZA @ London

Overnight batter Jamie Overton slammed two fours off the first two deliveries bowled by Prasidh Krishna to bring the equation down to 27.

With wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith at the non-striker's end, it appeared England would complete the formalities in the next few overs to walk away with the honours. Mohammed Siraj, however, had some other plans.

The Hyderabad pacer looked like a man possessed as he steamed into bowl from the Pavilion End. He beat Smith with the first two deliveries, swinging them away from the batter and then made him nick the third one. Dhruv Jurel held the low catch, but umpire Kumar Dharmasena went upstairs to check whether the catch was clean. It was, and hence began one of the most mesmerising and lethal spells of Test cricket in the modern era. It was all Siraj's show thereafter as the next one hour of play saw the pacer bringing England down to their knees single-handedly to win the match and level the series for India.