The final hour of The Oval Test was not for the faint-hearted. Mohammed Siraj was on song to an extent that captain Shubman Gill did not opt to take the new ball. Siraj made the ball move both ways and became a nightmare for England's lower order. But, in the 84th over, Gus Atkinson managed to hit Siraj for a six as Akash Deep dropped the catch and the ball went over the ropes. On the last ball, he wanted to keep Atkinson on strike so that Chris Woakes faces Prasidh Krishna in the next but the English batters sneaked a single via byes.
As Woakes made his ground, Siraj was not happy. Wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel could not hit the stumps as he did not take his glove off. The 31-year-old pacer was heard asking Gill: "Nahin bola tu? [didn't you tell him?]". In the post-match press conference, Siraj revealed that the plan was to bowl a wide yorker.
“That wide yorker was our (Siraj and Gill’s) plan," Siraj said in the post-match press conference. “It was the last ball of the over, and we knew they won’t want to get Woakes on strike. So he said that we can bowl a wide yorker because there was a chance of a run-out too. They wouldn’t have been able to hit it for a six, and we wanted a dot ball."
Gill explains why Jurel didn’t remove his right glove
But all is well when it ends well. Gill, who was sitting alongside Siraj in the press conference, revealed the funny side of the story. The skipper said that by the time he could tell the plan to Jurel, Siraj had already tarted running in.
“He had told me to ask Dhruv Jurel to remove his gloves for the run-out," Gill said. “Jab tak maine Dhruv ko bola ye bhagne lag gaya aur usko time ni mila. Toh usne miss kardi and isne mujhe bola, ‘Tuune bola kyu nahi?’ (Till the time I could go and tell Dhruv, Siraj had already started running for the ball. So he missed the run-out, and he came asking me why I didn’t tell Dhruv!)".
Siraj wins the battle
In the next over, Jurel had removed the right glove to keep Atkinson from taking a single but he managed to nudge the ball towards leg side and scamper for a single. In the end, Siraj had the last say. Atkinson went for the big shot to level the scores but Siraj’s delivery crashed into the stumps to level the series 2-2.