Test cricket is the cruellest sport: a game in which five days of toil, and 25 in a five-match series, can be decided by impossibly fine margins. But, just occasionally, Test matches get the denouement that they deserve.

Mohammed Siraj might have won the player of the match award for his heroics at the Oval for India. But Prasidh Krishna also played a perfect supporting role for him, accounting for eight wickets. They replicated a 56-year-old record for India together.

Mohammed Siraj was the hero as India beat England by just six runs in a thrilling fifth Test at the Oval on Monday to end the series level at 2-2.India were without Jasprit Bumrah at the Oval after deciding to stand by a decision to only play the world's top-ranked Test bowler in three games of this five-match series.