Siraj’s one man show marked India’s stunning comeback in the final test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at The Oval. The fiery pacer would deliver the best bowling performance in tests for quite some years, carrying India to a 3-2 win and putting down England’s own hopes of winning at home.
Siraj turns the game on its head
On Day 5, England seemed set to stroll to victory, requiring only 35 with four wickets in hand. But Siraj had other plans in store. It first started with the fall of Jamie Smith and then Jamie Overton in rapid succession before the knockout punch in the form of a searing yorker that shook off Gus Atkinson’s stumps for India to win dramatically by six runs.
Siraj completed with match-winning returns of 5/104 in 30.1 overs, wrapping up a fifer that will go down as one of the most influential spells by an Indian pacer abroad.
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Siraj finished the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy as the highest wicket-taker with 23 scalps at 32.43. He took a record-breaking 185.3 overs in the five Tests, taking two five-wicket hauls. Siraj’s collection of 23 wickets is now jointly India’s most in a Test series in England equalling the haul Jasprit Bumrah recorded during the 2021–22 series.
Record-Breaking Spell at The Oval
In the first innings of the same Test, Siraj picked up 4/86, making his match figures 9/190 the best ever by an Indian at The Oval. This was also a record surpassing Bhagwath Chandrasekhar’s 8/114 after India won history in the same year at that venue in 1971.
The 30-year-old pacer also surpassed Kapil Dev in the list of India’s most Test wickets in England. Siraj has 46 wickets in 11 Tests in the nation at 33.21. Only Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah with both 51 wickets are in front of him.
Siraj’s SENA Supremacy
Siraj’s performance in foreign conditions remains bright, he is the sole Indian to appear in all of India’s Test wins this decade in SENA nations (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia). In the nine successes, he has taken 51 wickets at a mind-boggling average of 18.92, with four five-wicket collections.
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With only Jasprit Bumrah in front of him for the most SENA wickets to win Tests, Siraj has stamped his place as India’s premier pacer in do-or-die away matches.
