Bashir's parting act delivers rapture in titanic battle

Exactly six years since the barest of margins, came the most fortunate of deflections to send another Lord's epic England's way.

- Ali Martin

Exactly six years since the barest of margins, came the most fortunate of deflections to send another Lord's epic England's way. An intense battle of wills ended at 4.54pm on the final day when Mohammed Siraj, India's No 11, repelled a rising ball from Shoaib Bashir, only to see it trickle back on to his stumps and dislodge a bail.

It was a galling way for Shubman Gill's touring side to lose this third Test by 22 runs and go 2-1 down in a series they will believe they have dominated.

Much like the World Cup final here in 2019, Ben Stokes and his players were an overwhelmed mix of jubilation and relief; the exhausted last survivors of a disaster movie that very nearly broke them.

Both teams deserve immense credit for the five days of drama served up, this the second of back-to-back Tests that began in a heatwave and hit boiling point when a row over time-wasting blew up on the third evening.

Unlike a similar spat when they met at Lord's in 2021 - Virat Kohli's "60 overs of hell" match - England just about held their nerve.

They were very much dragged through the wringer as Ravindra Jadeja's unbeaten 61 from 181 balls turned 112 for eight at lunch into a slow-burn thriller that drove India so close to a target of 193 runs. The needle witnessed across the last two days melted away at the end, Joe Root among those to console the bereft Siraj and shake hands with Jadeja in respect of his near five-hour rearguard.