Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif believes that young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal deserves equal credit as Mohammed Siraj for the Shubman Gill-led side's thrilling win in the fifth Test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 at The Oval. He highlighted that if Jaiswal hadn't scored a century in the second innings, there wouldn't have been enough runs on the board for Siraj to defend, and India could have ended up on the losing side.
Jaiswal started the five-Test match series of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 with a dominating century at Headingley in the opening Test, and ended the series with a gritty 118 in the second innings of the deciding match at The Oval.
England bowled out India on 224 in first innings before being bundled out for 247 and taking a slender 23-run lead. India failed to get a good start in second innings and lost two early wickets, then Jaiswal stepped up and stitched a 107-run stand with Akash deep (66), along with a couple of handy partnerships of 40 and 44 with Karun Nair and Ravindra Jadeja, respectively, as India scored 396 in the second innings, setting England a target of 376 for a win.
On Day 5 of the last Test match, Siraj got a fiery five-wicket haul as India produced a sensational four-wicket burst on a nerve-shredding final morning at The Oval to beat England by six runs and square the series.
Speaking exclusively to IANS, Kaif while praising India for its nervy win, said, "Before Siraj, I'll mention (Yashasvi) Jaiswal. If Jaiswal hadn't scored a century, there wouldn't have been so many runs on the board to defend. Why is this a close match Till the end? Because Jaiswal got out early in the first innings."
"Jaiswal's way of playing is aggressive. But in this innings, he was calm. He left the ball. He attacked in the beginning. When he got set on the crease, he took his time and played a long innings.
"I feel that Jaiswal deserves to be credited for this win. Because of his century, India was able to get close to 370-380. If these runs hadn't been made, Siraj wouldn't have so many runs to defend and India would have lost this Test match," he added.
Kaif lauded Jaiswal for his brilliant ton in the second innings when the conditions were not favourable to bat as there was a lot of seam movement.
"Jaiswal did a great job on a difficult pitch. This was the most difficult pitch in this series for batting. In the last four matches, it was a flat pitch; batting dominated pitches. But here (at the Oval), bowlers were dominating. On a pitch, where there was a lot of seam movement, Jaiswal showed us why he has an average of 50. He has talent and ability of a big match player," Kaif said.
After defeating England in the fifth Test match, India are currently third in the World Test Championship (WTC) points table tally with 28 points.