I don't know where to start! It is rare for me to start like this, but that is my current sentiment. I have to assume ignorance of Cricket as a sport from most of my readers. Yet, I also know that at least some of the people who reads me, mostly from the subcontinent and perhaps I should say British colonies, knows the game quite well, if not more than me. So I am dealing with this bi-modal population of two groups of people. One who knows nothing or very little, and the other group who can spent hours talking to me why Rishabh Pant's Reverse Sweep off a fast bowler was a ridiculous shot to play, but certainly was entertaining!
If you didn't understand a single thing about the last part of the sentence, don't worry, there is light at the end of the tunnel!
Source: 5th Test, Oval, India won by 6 runs
Today I will talk about the last game of the recent Test Match Series between India and England, played in South London, at the Oval. The 5th Test Match and the series finished just a few hours ago, and I am still digesting the information! The picture above are a few players of the Indian team celebrating the victory.
First, we don't really have an active cricket community at hive. I searched and found 22 yards, which is an apt name of the community created a long time ago by 
I am posting there because I really like the name. Cricket is played in a rectangular piece of ground, called a pitch, and is 22 yards in length. It is a tribute to the surface on which the game is played. The word 22 yards is so pivotal to the game, that during the 3rd Test in Lords ESPN's journalist Sid Monga wrote a piece titled Battered players leave bits of hearts and spirits behind after bruising Lord's Test, which I think was an wonderful piece of sports writing!
Source: A distraught Md. Siraj on his haunches as India fell short! 3rd Test Lords
A Test match is a game that is played for 5 days! For 6 hours/day in three sessions. This is the only game in the world which has lunch and tea breaks! Trust me, players need them. Sid Monga wasn't really making it metaphysical in that title. We have broken foot, broken fingers (yes, plural, two fingers, two different players), torn shoulder ligaments, spasmed backs, and finally completely dislocated shoulder that happened in this test series! When the game is played at the highest level, as it was between two very equally capable sides, it takes a lot of toll of players mind and body! Yes that is a TEST!
Source: Yes spirit of the game! 3rd Test Lords! England won by 22 runs
So yes, it is not simply a game, where you play in whites and remain clean at the end of the day. Gone are those days a long time back. It is highly competitive, supremely athletic and you don't always hold your bat!
This is the current series that I am talking about. It is a five Test match series during the "Emglish Summer". In the cricketing world, the the phrase means many different things at the same time. Weather plays a very important role in the game of cricket, and location matters a lot. English summers, especially early summers are traditionally cold, windy and rainy. Funny enough, until the 5th Test Match in Oval, this year, the weather was unusually hot. We only got the rain, and dark cloudy days in the 5th Test. Before that the heat and the sun played a lot of tricks on the outcome of the game and captaincy (decisions).
The series ended this morning my time with a result 2-2. India won two tests, England did the same, and the 4th Test at Manchester was a bitterly fought draw. Overall the series therefore is a draw. No result. And yet this series is the most closely contested series of test cricket that I can remember, forever! Mind you, I have watched a lot of cricket, because growing up in India you start watching cricket before you even understand what you are watching. I think I probably watched my mom and dad and cricket about the same time! I learned to hold a cricket bat (a toy one) before I learned to walk! You get the idea.
It was set up as a grand finale anyways. It was high in drama at the end of the closely fought draw at Manchester, where two Indian middle order batsmen denied England their glory after they put up a mammoth total of 669!
As I mentioned earlier, the 5th Test started with classic English summer conditions. Wet, windy, rainy ground assured low scoring first two innings by both teams. By the late second day sun was shining so that reflected in higher second innings scores, again very even. Until late 4th day the game was interrupted by rain and even morning today, the 5th day, there were very thick cloud cover. We were all wondering if the game will start on time. A packed Oval weighted and England had only 35 runs to score, and India needed 4 wickets. India got them, but not easily.
All in all, I say Md Siraj from India remain sort of the central figure. He was the last man out at the Lords Test, where he did a long vigil with Ravindra Jadeja, but fell short by 22 runs (the picture of him kneeling). The last stand at Lords was considered remarkable. This time around, he was leading the blowing attack because of the absence and injury of India's star paceman Bhumrah, but he dropped a crucial catch at the boundary when Harry Brook was 20, who went in and did score 100, and almost took England home! And yet, Siraj did have the final laugh claiming the final wicket!
Source: What a remarkable image! Siraj claiming the final wicket!
Who says Test Cricket is Dead! Look at him flying with his whole body in air and stumps dislodged with a perfect yorker, who says they are not athletic! Look at Woakes standing with one arm at the non-striker end, who says its easy! I hope even the uninitiated can see the 22 yard!
That, ladies and gentlemen was the final delivery of the 5th Test! If that is not iconic, I don't know what is!
