EMERGENCY POD! India beat England in epic Oval Test to draw series 2-2 | Nas and Ath are joined by Dinesh Karthik

0:00Ath:Yeah, go on, go on, he gets his fairytale ending. An epic way to go to a Test Match 100. The London Spirit, a first time winner. The most remarkable thing you've probably ever seen, cricket.

0:15Nas:Six up all four and final Test Wicket for Stuart Ford. It's ended when the T20 World Cup.

0:22Ath:England's captain Ben Stokes, while he is there, England have hope.

0:31Ath:Welcome to the Sky Cricket Podcast. Moments after India's narrowest ever test match victory. The podcast was under maintenance yesterday afternoon when it looked as though England were breezing to victory. But now that India have got themselves over the line for a two-all draw, the podcast is back up and running. Don't start it that way. Let me give an introduction here. The two fossils of broadcasting, Michael Atterton and Nasser Hussain, have given me so much grief in this last 45 days and it started with a couple of days prior to the series. Let's go back there. I hope the producer has enough footage to put that back in.

1:07Nasser said, asked me rather, what do you think is the series scoreline? Tell me please. And I just thought about it. I said, two all because I feel England probably have a vulnerable bowling attack. I'm sure those words would match. And then he gave me so much grief. He said that if ever there was something called sitting on the fence, here we go with Dinesh Kat. Mr Michael Atherton from the time I landed in Heathrow is just asking me turbulent questions and putting me under immense pressure. Started with how I advised Virat Kohli on how to play and it has been good to see India finish on the note.

1:47What a day it was but now you can start your thing. I need to get it out of my chest.

1:51Ath:Reflect on that. I mean, an amazing hour of cricket. drama that likes of which we've rarely seen with wokes coming out shoulder in a sling preparing to bat left-handed but just for a moment reflect on that victory for India what it will mean to the country because millions would have been tuning in to watch the end of this game yeah we heard Ravi Shastri say that there'd be a lot of people in India who would have just said thank you for the moment I'm not coming to office today I have better things to do and found excuses to just stay at home and I just received a text now and I thought that was quite a nice text in the sense that he said you've probably been part of the greatest test series ever that you'll be a part of as a broadcaster.

2:29And I don't know if that's going to stand true for the future but it definitely from the past I must say this is the greatest test series that I've been part of. Every test going down five days and almost to the last session. Today, yesterday we were a bit... I mean, we all expected it to finish and we just thought why extend it when yesterday it was possible to get a result which they should have using common sense if both teams are okay with it. But kind of felt it was worthwhile coming back almost. It was packed house, everybody trying to get in and a lot of support for India. And it was just great to see a group of young boys stand up against a very strong English team.

3:01Nas:By the way, if I'm a boss in India, I'm sacking people if they are coming into work today. Not if they're bunking off and watch the cricket. Go home and watch the cricket.

3:10Ath:Should we reflect on the first hour this morning, first of all? Did England get anything wrong? Was it just wonderfully spirited bowling from India in conditions that remained helpful, didn't they? I mean, we all wondered whether that roller this morning would flatten things out, but it didn't seem to.

3:27Nas:It didn't. The first two balls went for four. Overton had obviously said, right, we're going to go out there and maybe get as close to the target before the new ball, which was four and a bit overs away. And in fact, after those two boundaries, it was noticeable, especially from Siraj, that ball was still hooping and seeming like it was late yesterday. And then the debate was they were never going to take the new ball because they had a ball that was doing something. And then once you lost one wicket, once that first wicket went, then you felt the crowd and the Indian fans were going ballistic.

4:01Nas:And you just felt England were a bit sort of frenetic. They wanted it to finish quickly. Jamie Smith was the key wicket.

4:07Ath:I mean, he's obviously the mainline batter. He's had a brilliant start to his Test career. But also he's shown in his short career to date that he can really take the game to the bowlers. And he looked a bit dodgy last evening, didn't he? and couldn't really get going.

4:23Nas:Yeah, and that's when the pressure is. You turn up, you're 35, an oval, day five. The ball's allowed to swing and seam, by the way. That's what happens in the history of Test match cricket. 35, four wickets, one of them obviously been wokes. You're probably favourites there. Two proper players at the crease who can bat, and Jamie Smith, an exceptional player, with a Test match 100 to come next in Atkinson. You had England as favourites. But once you saw that first wicket go, then you knew this is now nothing to do with what's happened in test cricket. This is pressure of the situation today and the big heart of Siraj.

4:56Nas:He just came... I said at the end there, 3-1 would have been a bit of a travesty. I don't think England deserve to win this series 3-1. I felt 2-1 was a fair reflection of how both sides have played. India have lost five tosses and I thought it was absolutely fitting that the man to get that final wicket was Mohamed Siraj. You've been translating for us. It's interesting that two people from Essex feel the same way. One is Nasser Hussein who feels 3-1 would have been a travesty and Ryan Tenduskate was just standing with him and he said if it was 3-1 it would be like a kick in the teeth because we genuinely have competed with them and we have gone toe to toe in so many sessions that we would have been very disappointed.

5:34So that's the general feeling out there and yeah, I was speaking and helping Siraj translate. Just one more point I don't like to butt in but I'll just tell you this. Speaking to a couple of the boys the only thing I asked them what changed after tea? Why is it that it felt like nothing was happening between lunch and tea and what changed? and they said Harry Brook was just outstanding. They just didn't have answers to him. He batted brilliantly and they said the way Harry Brook and Joe Root actually batted in that stage made the bowlers look a lot lesser than what the ball was doing. It was doing a bit.

6:04When they got Harry Brook's wicket, they thought, okay, maybe. But when they got the next wicket, which was Petal and Joe Root following soon after, that's when they said, here we go, there's a chance.

6:13Nas:Your interview with Siraj and translation was so good, you had to do it twice, didn't you? it just tells my inexperience in broadcasting i just went straight up to siraj and started talking like my dad was wait for a cue from director we'll get to harry brook in a minute

6:29Ath:with just a final word on siraj i mean it's bizarre isn't it all the talk was about jasper before the series began he'll only play three games and india have to win the games that he's playing they ended up not winning those winning the ones that he didn't play but maybe that's not a complete coincidence that the rest of the attack in particular, Siraj, feels that they have to raise their game in the absence of Bumrah. Feels like it. I mean, it's not Bumrah's fault because he's the best going around in the world. Every time he plays, he creates an impact. I think it's got to do with the captain as well.

7:01Maybe he trusts Bumrah so much that at times he doesn't believe the others are as potent as him in certain situations. He didn't have Bumrah. He said, here we go. It's Prasid and Siraj for me from the start till this game finishes. So those kind of moments actually instill confidence in you and I think at times whoever the captain has been Virat Kohli, Roach Sharma and now Shubman Gill when Bumrah has played has relied so much because he's such a genius and he makes the ball talk that others sometimes pale in comparison on that given day when he's around.

7:27Ath:Talking about Harry Brook and obviously it seemed as though the game was in the bag yesterday afternoon when Brook and Root were playing so well. It was a brilliant innings from Harry Brook. He got out in the most bizarre fashion running down trying to slap one over extra cover bat ends up at square leg ball ends up in the hands of cover. So how people clearly praise the innings, but then in hindsight, now England have lost. They'll say, why didn't he just get England over the line? Do we have to accept that a player like that, and he's a little bit like Rishabh Pant for India, that a player like that who can change a game is not always going to get it right.

8:05Ath:And given the level of risk that he plays with, he is going to get it wrong from time to time. You just accept that or what would you do as captain?

8:12Nas:You would say, is that a shot that you play and gets you a lot of runs? Which he does. Which he does. He charges the seamer as much as anyone. I see probably Rishabh Punt's another one. And he hits it over extra cover and mid off for four and six at will, to be honest. So it's a high percentage shot for him. In fact, it's in his percentage is what I mean. So I have not got a problem. He looked a bit ludicrous because the bat went out of his hand. So it would be like me or you playing a forward defence or Owen Morgan or Ben Duckett playing reverse sweeps. Would you ever be critical of Ben Duckett getting out reverse sweep or Owen Morgan in white ball cricket?

8:47Nas:You wouldn't. So why would you be critical of Harry Brook? What we have to be careful, I guess, as a pundit...

8:53Ath:Is giving them licence and not being critical at all. How do you ever criticise that?

8:58Nas:We used to give KP stick when KP would say, that's the way I play. Now, you do have to play the situation as well. And that's what Harry may have to learn and add to his game and learn maybe from this that people below him, once put under pressure in a certain situation, may collapse in a heap. So next time, even though it's your shot, play the situation to get your team closer to the line. But I cannot be critical if someone's got 10 hundreds in 50 innings and plays the way he does. He's just a fabulous player.

9:30Ath:Shubmangil, he looked very cool and calm when I interviewed him, well, only about 10 or 15 minutes ago. His heart must have been pounding this morning, though. Yeah, I don't think he would have had a good night's sleep. Just knowing that they're close, but nowhere close to the finish line. Four wickets is a lot. And Jamie Smith, with the impact that he's had in the series so far, and Jamie Overton, who can definitely hold a bat, he would have had his doubts. And the fact that a heavy roller was going to be on today, which flattened it out on day four, he would have had the same feelings walking in today.

9:59And luckily for him, it looks like it didn't have too much of an effect because the ball was still swinging. But let's talk about his batting. I feel walking the series, Nas and I spoke about the fact that your currency is runs and I think he's lived up to what he wanted to which is be the best batter across both teams and it's fair to say that he's really worked on certain skills in his batting mentally and technically and he's come out here, seen through some tough spells yes, the pitches were great for batting but not everybody else got 754 here he is 200 runs ahead of the next highest which tells you he's done everything possible as a young leader to say, I'm here to say tough moments, big series look out, I'm going to do it for India every time now.

10:38Ath:I think we all feel 2-0 was a fair reflection. I mean, if you looked at the series won India, probably won, sorry, sessions won India, probably won more sessions than England. I was just looking at the series averages. They've got four of the top six, Ron Getters, Shubman, Kael Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pan. Four of the top six, wicket takers, Siraj, Bumrah, Akashdeep and Prasid Krishna.

11:02Nas:Yeah, that's why I think 2-0 was a fair reflection. I guess a few Indian fans out there will actually say this was a missed opportunity. They didn't quite get those key moments, did they? There were moments throughout the series that if they just played it better, but we've all played the game over a five-match series. England would say the same. You know, late last night, could they have done a little bit better so they didn't have so much pressure today? They won two of their games without Boomer, which we've touched on. What do we know as pundits? At the start, we're all going, you must win those Boomer games.

11:33Nas:They are your trump cards. The two games he didn't play, they won. I think Gil, as a batter, has been prolific and wonderful. I think he can still learn a bit as a captain at certain times. You know, a one-off example, the last test at Manchester, Washington Sundar not bowling him for so long, changing the ball at Lourdes when he had a ball that was changing. I think he learned from that today. This one was doing it, and he didn't get it changed for a new ball. So there's things he'll learn. But he said before the series, I'm going to get runs. That's my best thing for this team, and he's certainly done that.

12:05Ath:Anything concern you about England? No hundreds for Crawley. The way Bethel was carted around the series carrying drinks, which slightly came back to haunt England yesterday.

12:17Nas:Crawley has played exactly how I thought Crawley would play because that's how he's always played. He will be eye-catching when he gets runs, and everyone will say, this is why they stick with Crawley. And then there'll be a dismissal where you go, what are you doing there? And he'll end up, have you got his stats for the...

12:30Ath:I think an average of 30, which is kind of...

12:34Nas:His test average and his first-class average.

12:36Ath:290 runs at 32. The only batter, top-order batter, not to make 100. But the partnership with Duckett works. Is a good one.

12:45Nas:So you're not going to separate that. They play, they get on. There's an obvious left-hand, right-hand, tall, short. So they're going to be opening unless there's an injury in the first test match of the Ashes. I think a Bethel thing is no reflection on Jacob Bethel. No. It's a reflection on, you know, you have to have played cricket and you've had to play cricket in the format in red ball cricket. If you're going to come up against Siraj and all these guys in the high-pressure cauldron, I don't care what the modern cricketer says about I don't need time in the middle or we just go and play. You need to be back.

13:17Nas:And to be carried around, he didn't come back from the IPL, did he stay? Fair enough, that's his decision. And then he missed the Zimbabwe test and then he's not played much cricket. He probably had more balls in this game than he's had all year in Red Bull cricket. And that finds you out. However talented you are, that will find you out. So it's not a Jacob Bethel point. It's to make sure that future cricketers do get the right quantity and quality.

13:41Ath:They're given the best chance to succeed.

13:42Nas:Basically, yeah.