Another Test match, another one lasting nearly 15 sessions. What's with the Eng-Ind series? But is anyone complaining? That's why 5-day cricket is important. You could have a bad day but then, can bounce back the next. And you could be on top for a long time, but unless you finish the job, the match is not yours. Also, the game could change in a span of minutes. Leave aside that sour note between the England team taking out their frustration on Ravindra Jadeja, this has been another fascinating Test. Although, the bowlers will feel that the curator needs to think about them as well. Both sides are struggling to pick up 20 wickets consistently and eventually, that's what's going to decide who wins the final Test. Will Jasprit Bumrah play? Should Siraj be rested? Will Kuldeep Yadav get a chance? For England, ​​​​will Ben Stokes recover to bowl? Do they hunt for another seamer to replace Carse or dig deep to find another spinner? A wicket-taking one? Just around 3 days to decide all this as the caravan heads back to London for the final stage. The fifth and final Test will be played on Thursday, 31st July, 2025, with the first ball scheduled to be bowled at 3.30 pm IST (1000 GMT) at The Oval. Our buildup will begin much earlier, so do tune in early. In the meanwhile, you can catch all the action from the West Indies-Australia T20I series and New Zealand's Test tour of Zimbabwe. Enjoy. ADIOS! TAKE CARE!

The captain of England, BEN STOKES, is also ADJUDGED THE PLAYER OF THE MATCH for his 5-wicket haul in the first innings and a century with the bat. He reflects on the game with a touch of pride and a bit of disappointment. Says that as an all-rounder, he weighs on individual performance only by the result, and he would’ve absolutely loved it if they had ended up on the winning side. Still, he is happy that his contributions, both with the bat and the ball, stood out across the five days. Speaking about the physical and mental toll of the series, Stokes acknowledges that it’s been a big five to six weeks for him personally. But says that he told the boys, they’ve got one more Test, so let’s give it everything. Further adds that they will run through a brick wall if they have to. Mentions that his leadership mantra is to lead by example, and it’s tough work, but he’ll keep doing it. That’s just who he is. On his shoulder injury, Stokes explains it’s more about workload than anything serious, as he bowled quite a few overs. Explains that naturally, his body starts to feel it after a while. But he keeps reminding his bowlers to push more. He then analyzes how the pitch evolved, saying it got easier to bat on as the match went deeper. Adds that there was variable bounce, particularly tough for right-handers, as they saw this morning. But surprisingly, not much for the left-handers. Credits Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja, calling the way they applied themselves and batted as really impressive. Details that they held firm when it mattered. Finally, he points to the positives for England, as he thinks their opening partnership really gave them the upper hand. Details that Crawley and Duckett set the tone beautifully, scoring at a good rate, which allowed them to aim to bat once and put pressure on India. Feels unfortunate that they just couldn’t get over the line in the end. Ends by saying that this series has been incredible so far with all five Tests.

The skipper of India, SHUBMAN GILL, reflects on the hard-fought draw with a sense of pride. Says it felt more like a win, considering the situation his side was in. Explains that losing two early wickets made things tricky, but he’s pleased with how the team responded and showed fight through the day. He shares that the talk in the dressing room was all about playing ball by ball, especially on a Day 5 pitch where anything can happen, variable bounce, turn, or even seam. Adds that they wanted to take the pitch out of the equation sometimes and just trust their technique. On the drama before the handshake, Gill first applauds the efforts of Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, both of whom were in the 90s and played with immense grit and composure. Feels that it was actually the call of the batters as to continue the game or not but they fully deserved their centuries, and that's why there was no urgency in shaking hands early. Mentions that every match in this series has gone down to the final session, and Gill feels that’s been a huge learning experience for the whole group. Now, he says that they want to head into the fifth match with the aim of drawing the series. That’s their focus. On his own form, Gill says that the number of runs doesn’t matter much to him. Says that he just wants to contribute to the team's success and enjoy his batting. Emphasizes the importance of batting deep, especially on such wickets, something they couldn’t do in the first innings but managed to correct in the second, and says that someone has to anchor the innings, and he’s glad that they did that this time. On Jasprit Bumrah's availability for the final Test, Gill says they'll wait and see on the eve of the final Test. As for the toss in this match, he shrugs it off, saying that it doesn’t really matter, and as long as they’re winning games or saving them like this, he’s happy.

... THE PRESENTATION ...

India will be happy with their batting. More than happy. They could have been bowled out for under 250 while batting first, while they could have suffered an innings defeat in the second innings. But they did what they love to do - bat and bat and bat and drew this match on merit, rather than via nature. But there will be question marks over their bowling. Barring Bumrah, everyone struggled on the flat deck and even though Ravindra Jadeja picked up 4 wickets, they were more because England were going for quick runs. As far as Bumrah is concerned, he was picked for this match to try and help India level the series here but could not strike with the new ball. As a result, ended up with just 2 wickets. Also, the policy of picking Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar but not giving them enough overs did raise some questions over Gill's captaincy, and it might have come off in this game. But come The Oval, where one can expect another flat deck, what combination will India pick? And what about Bumrah? Originally scheduled to play only three Tests, do the visitors take the gamble? Please stay tuned for the presentation.

Coming to the match overall, England won the toss on an overcast morning but India called it a good toss to lose. They batted and battled the difficult conditions and through a series of starts, managed to put 358 on the board. Stokes bowled his heart out, taking a 5-wicket haul while Archer picked up 3. With the bat, England showed why they decided to bowl first because they replied with a mammoth 669. The top 3 got off to a rollicking start and Stokes stood up with the bat too, with a magnificent 141 while Root being Root, scored yet another 150. He broke so many records that almost every second ball was an event. That enabled the hosts to get a lead of 311, which should have been enough in a normal scenario but the curse of Manchester is riding heavily on Stokes. This is just the second draw in his Test career as a captain, both at Old Trafford and from the inception of Test cricket at this ground, no team has still won a Test match after electing to bowl! Guess some things are just not destined to change.

England will look at those dropped catches but cannot say that they bowled well. They struggled on Day 4 but got things together in the morning session on Day 5. However, post Lunch, they just lost their lines and lengths and just could not control the scoring rate. Liam Dawson was the most disappointing name, given that the conditions were perfect for him, with plenty of rough outside the off stump against the left handers. But he just could not hit those areas and it caused so much frustration for his skipper that even the usually calm Ben Stokes took his bowler aside and was actually giving him lessons on where to land the ball! After the early burst by Woakes, only Stokes and Archer could bowl well. The rest simply could not stand up. Also, the absence of Stokes on Day 4 hurt England badly as they could not pick wickets for 2 sessions in a row. Paints a poor picture for the final Test, should Stokes be not available to bowl.

When the new ball swung in the first over, India were pegged on the back foot pretty quickly. But after that, the ball just stopped swinging as Shubman Gill started to score a few boundaries. And then, England did not have a backup plan. They tried to use the inconsistent bounce and managed to get Rahul's wicket as well on Day 5 morning, but just could hit the same area consistently enough. Add to it, three mistakes cost them very big - first, Gill's drop on 48 by Liam Dawson on Saturday, then on 81 by Ollie Pope and Ravindra Jadeja put down first ball by Joe Root. The problem for the bowlers was such chances came very rarely and if they missed it, there was no second chance. But no complaints against the batters who just bed in. Washington Sundar was sent in at number 5, either to help Gill save the Test, considering that Jadeja is an attacking batter, or simply to keep Jadeja at 6, given his form. It worked big time for the tourists as the absence of Pant was rarely felt. Sundar started off very cautiously, before opening up post Lunch on Day 5.

The talk of defense started with playing for a day. Could India take this game to Day 5? There is plenty of rain on the final day. Can the visitors bat out 2 sessions and somehow take this to Day 5, and hope rain helps them to a draw? This was the thought on the outside. But not on the inside. Captain Gill and coach Gambhir are not ones who rely on weather and purely looked at the numbers. 5 sessions to bat, let's bat those out. Whether rain comes or not, we cannot give our wickets away. And so, it happened. Rain did not come at all but the Indians were not bothered. Because they never played for the weather. They only had one aim - play each and every ball on merit and give it the best shot.

0/2 in the first 5 balls of the innings. 4 full sessions and a half session played after that pre-Lunch session on Day 4. And that saw three wicketless sessions. The pitch might be a road, a highway, a bed - call it what you like, but this has been one of the greatest batting displays by an Indian unit, that too, by a young one. They lost Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan in the first over, but then, KL Rahul, skipper Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja - all batted with grit and determination, with Rahul being the unlucky one to miss out on a century. England threw everything at them, and the Indians got difficult batting conditions as well, but they just showed great resolve to avert a defeat.

The English players patiently wait for Sundar to finish his celebration and finally, the Indian batters shake hands with the hosts, relieving them of their misery. After 143 overs of toil, despite taking 2 wickets in the first 5 balls, England could manage only 2 more in the next 853 legal balls. A bit of a bad mood towards the end but the players shake hands as India emerge as the moral victors in this fourth Test. The series still stands 2-1 in favour of England ​​​​and India cannot win the series, but because of this draw, earned due to hard work and not because of weather, the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy is still alive.