Stuart Broad: Former England pacer Stuart Broad hailed star Indian seamer Mohammed Siraj for his heroic performance in the fifth and final Test at the Oval. Playing his fifth consecutive game in the series, the 31-year-old showed incredible endurance and competitive drive to lead India to a thrilling six-run victory.
Stuart Broad: Siraj helped India bounce back in the first innings with four wickets when all seemed lost with England at 129/1 in response to their 224. However, his most important contribution came in the final innings with a five-wicket haul to help India reduce England from 301/3 to 367 all-out in their run-chase of 374.
Stuart Broad: Talking about Siraj after the Oval Test on Sky Sports, Broad said (4:36):
Stuart Broad: I am delighted for Mohammad Siraj. Hopefully, I get an opportunity to shake his hands because I was worried yesterday that we would be talking about that catch ( Brook’s drop). And it would be the catch he would be boarding that plane home and going, ‘If I would have taken that catch, could things have been different?'”
He added:
“For a bowler that’s given everything in this series, he deserved to get the final wicket and be remembered for bowling his team to an enthralling Test match victory rather than a mistake on the boundary.”
Siraj was adjudged the Player of the Match in India’s series-levelling win at the Oval. He also finished as the highest wicket-taker in the series with 23 scalps in five Tests.
“India definitely deserved something out of the series” – Stuart Broad
Team India rise to No.3 in the World Test Championship standings after a thrilling win at The Oval! 💪🇮🇳⬆️#ENGvIND #Tests #ShubmanGill #Sportskeeda pic.twitter.com/98N1aGE4FN
— Sportskeeda (@Sportskeeda) August 4, 2025
Stuart Broad believes a 2-2 finish to the series was a fair reflection of the Indian and the English sides. All five Tests went to the final day with the sides trading blows in one of the most memorable series of all time.
“India definitely deserved something out of the series. If you look at all the Test matches, they could have won so they deserved something out of the series. Maybe not a win because England played some fantastic cricket as well,” said Broad (via the aforementioned source).
Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri called the drawn series in England a massive result for the young side.
“Massive because there is no Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and no Bumrah for a couple of the Test matches. So, it’s a big statement for the young guys in the team and for a young captain, who will only grow in stature. All that augurs well because he is 25 years of age and has scored 754 runs in the series and then drawn level in the series so you can’t ask for anything more,” he said (on the same Sky Sports panel).
The series was Shubman Gill’s first as India’s Test captain, and he finished as the leading run-scorer with 754 runs at an average of 75.40, including four centuries.
