INDIA TOUR OF ENGLAND, 2025
Siraj claimed a fifer in the second innings, picking three wickets on the fifth morning with the old ball. © AFP
Stats highlights from India’ thrilling series leveling win at the Oval:
6 runs – Winning margin for India, the closest ever for them in a Test bettering the 13-run win over Australia at the Wankhede in 2004. The previous narrowest against England was by 28 runs at the Eden Gardens in 1972. Only twice have England suffered closer defeats by runs – by one run against New Zealand in Wellington in 2023 and by three runs against Australia at Old Trafford in 1902, while they also lost by six runs against Australia at the SCG in 1885.
Narrowest win for India by runs
Margin Target Against Venue Season 6 runs 374 Eng The Oval 2025 13 runs 107 Aus Wankhede 2004/05 28 runs 192 Eng Eden Gardens 1972/73 31 runs 322 Aus Adelaide 2018/19 37 runs 313 WI Port of Spain 2001/02 49 runs 269 WI Kingston 2006
1 – This was the first instance of a team losing by fewer than ten runs chasing a 300+ target. The previous lowest was 11 runs by England, chasing 375 against Australia in Adelaide in 1925. The closest in this century was Pakistan’s 26-run defeat to England in Multan, chasing 355.
42 – England were 42 runs away from the target when they lost Jacob Bethell, the fifth wicket of the innings. Never before has a side come 50 runs or fewer with six or more wickets in hand to the target in 300+ chases and ended up in a defeat. The previous closest was West Indies, who collapsed from 237/4 to 275 chasing 313 against India in Port of Spain in 2002.
23 wickets by Mohammed Siraj is the joint most by an Indian seamer in a Test series in England alongside Jasprit Bumrah in 2021-22. 185.3 overs bowled by Siraj in this series in the second most by an Indian seamer since June 2002, only behind Bumrah’s 187 overs in the above mentioned rubber that spanned across two calendar years.
12 LBW dismissals in this Test – the second most in 108 Tests at the Oval, only behind 14 from the England-West Indies encounter in 2000. Siraj trapped five batters in front of the wickets, the joint second-most by an Indian seamer in a Test along with Kapil Dev against Australia in Kanpur in 1979. The list is headed by Irfan Pathan who had seven LBWs to him name against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2004.
Siraj had figures of 8/26 off the 39 balls projected to hit the stumps in this Test. All other seamers in this Test cumulatively managed 9/109 between them.
16 Hundreds for Joe Root against India – the joint most by a player alongside Steven Smith. This was his 13th three-figure score against India in Tests, only behind Don Bradman’s 19 against England for the most by a batter, while Sunil Gavaskar also scored 13 against West Indies. This was the third instance of Root scoring centuries in three successive Tests, all three featuring India at least once.
3 – This was the third instance of Root aggregating 500+ runs in a series having scored 518 in 2014 and 737 in 2021-22. He is first player to do so against India. Everton Weekes, Gary Sobers, Zaheer Abbas, Ricky Ponting, and Younis Khan have all done so twice each.
50 Innings taken by Harry Brook to get to his 10th Test match century – the ninth quickest overall and the quickest by any player in the last 80 years. Brook’s strike rate of 113.86 is the highest ever for a fourth innings century against India.
4 – This was only the fourth time in this century that each of the five Tests of a series went into the fifth day. The previous instances being South Africa tour of West Indies in 2001, England tour of South Africa in 2004/05 and Ashes 2017/18 in Australia.
© Cricbuzz
