ENG vs IND | ‘He is a captain’s dream’, Gill after Siraj’s magical spell that helped India win at Oval

‌India ended their England tour on a memorable note, pulling off a thrilling six-run win over the hosts in the morning session of the final day of the fifth Test at The Oval in London. The visitors' bowling, led admirably by Mohammed Siraj, picked up the remaining four England wickets, denying them from scoring the required 35 runs to script an unbelievable turnaround.

England, who sat comfortably at 301/3 at one stage on day four, endured yet another collapse as the lower middle order buckled under pressure to stumble. Indian captain Shubman Gill was confident of his team ending on the winning side and felt 35 runs were also difficult to get, given the conditions and how the pace duo of Siraj and Prasidh Krishna were bowling.

"Yeah, we were pretty confident," Gill said at the post-match presentation. "Even yesterday, we knew that they were a little bit under pressure. We just wanted to make sure that they were feeling it throughout because it makes everyone do things that they don't want to. I am very happy that we got over the line in this one."

"When bowlers like Siraj and Prasidh are bowling in conditions like this, then 35 runs is also too much," Gill said at the post-match press conference. As a batsman, you are under pressure as you feel the ball is doing something, and it takes just one ball.

Gill was effusive in praise of India’s workhorse Mohammed Siraj, who picked up a five-wicket haul in the second innings to turn the game India’s way. Siraj played in all five Tests, sending down a whopping 185.3 overs in nine innings, an average of close to 21 overs in an innings.

With Jasprit Bumrah playing only three Tests, Siraj took the mantle of leading an inexperienced pace attack to finish as the top wicket-taker in the series. He took 23 wickets from five games, including two fifers, at an average of 32.43 and a strike rate of 48.39.

"Yes, definitely, he's a captain's dream", Gill said of Siraj. "Coming in five Test matches, every ball, every spell that he bowled gave his all out, and every captain, every team wants a player like him. We are very fortunate to have him in our team."

Meanwhile, Gill finished as the top scorer, head and shoulders above the others, apart from leading a young and inexperienced Indian side admirably in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. The Punjab batter amassed 754 runs at an average of 75.40, also scoring four centuries, to be adjudged the Player of the Series.

"I worked pretty hard before the start of the series. There were certain things that I wanted to work on as a batsman, and it was my goal to be able to be the best batter of the series. And to be able to accomplish that goal feels very satisfying and very rewarding.

A win in the final Test helped an inexperienced Indian side finish a challenging overseas assignment on level terms. This was the first Test series that the team was playing without the services of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and R Ashwin, and captain Gill felt the result would give the side a much-needed boost in the new World Test Championship cycle.

“This series was very important for us because the kind of maturity every player would feel at the end of the series would really help us in the long run in this WTC cycle. This win was important for us to be able to get that morale high, especially after the kind of cricket that we have played over two months."

"At the start of the series, Gauti bhai said: 'Yes, we are a young team, but we don't want to be looked at as a young team; we want to be looked at as a gun team'. And the way we played it today showed us why we are a gun team, and we have gun players like him in our team, and that's what makes this team so special."