A 2-2 series result seems fair, for a 1-3 loss would have been cruelly unjust --- especially to Siraj, who bowled 185.3 overs in the series for 23 wickets and never seemed to give up belief.
Mohammed Siraj, having spent a restless night, woke up at 6 on Monday morning, two hours before he normally does, and went online to search for inspiration, for his theme for the day --- he found it in the image of Cristiano Ronaldo, his back to the camera, celebrating a goal, headlined by one word: 'Believe.' He promptly installed the image as his phone's wallpaper.
Siraj wanted to believe; he wanted to believe that his most memorable act of the Test match would not be his catching Harry Brook on 19 on Sunday and then stepping out of the field! Brook had added a game-changing 92 runs to his total before Siraj caught him a second time, validly.
Siraj also didn't want to be remembered as the man who was the last man out in the Lord's Test, when India lost by 22 runs to go 1-2 down.
Siraj's belief came to complete fruition a little before noon today, at 11.56 am, when he blasted out Gus Atkinson's off stump to seal a six run win for India.
His final act, his celebration, with the whole stadium screaming its lungs out, is probably the most iconic moment of the series, the pinnacle of an intense, hard-fought contest in which every match went to the fifth day.
Rain had pushed the match to a working Monday, yet long streams of fans coursed towards The Oval cricket ground well before start of play, and the stadium was nearly up to capacity soon after play started at 11 am.
Indian fans seemed to be in the majority, and they were silenced on the first two balls of the day, both of which went for four -- Prasidh Krishna bowled a short one that Jamie Overton smashed to the midwicket boundary; Overton edged the second ball, past the stumps, for four.
England only 27 away from victory, hopes ebbed for the Indians.
The Indian fans, singing 'Ganpati Bappa Morya!, chanting 'India Jeetega', became quieter. It seemed that only Siraj clung on to belief. He made magic.
He didn't make the batsmen comfortable by bowling to bat; he tantalised them by making them reach out for the ball, swinging the ball out from just short of a length; England's batsmen, characteristically, reached out for the ball -- and paid for it.
Jamie Smith, an excellent strokemaker, was subdued last night, on 2 off 17 balls; today he reached out to stroke Siraj through cover and edged it to wicket-keeper Dhruv Jurel. It was a thick edge and a noticeable deviation, but young Smith, understandably, didn't walk -- he made the third umpire give him out.
The momentum shifted, nerves began to fray. Gus Atkinson, who has a Test century to his name, edged Siraj just short of K L Rahul at second slip. Siraj then got Overton, adjudged LBW by Umpire Kumar Dharmsena, ball-tracking technology confirming the umpire's opinion that the ball would have uprooted the leg stump.
Overton went off shaking his head, perhaps thinking that he had been done in --- on a different day, the on-field umpire's call could well have be not out.
Eight down for 354, 20 short of victory, the Indians in the stands -- high on hope and buckets of beer -- raising a godawful din: the pressure was on England, and it was intense.
Krishna got into the act when he prised out Josh Tongue, bending his stumps back with the yorker of his life. 357/9, seventeen short of victory, and in walked Chris Woakes --- with a dislocated shoulder, his left arm bandaged heavily, securely tucked inside his sweater.
There was no way he was going to be able to keep the ball out of his stumps -- Atkinson must take all strike thereafter.
Atkinson was going to have to do it in fours and sixers --- and he did get a sixer, off Siraj, when Akash Deep, too far into the field near the midwicket boundary, jumped up and across to catch the ball but could only palm it over the boundary.
Atkinson and Woakes ran a bye off the final ball as wicket-keeper Jurel, in the excitement of the moment, couldn't think of removing his right glove to be ready to run Woakes out. Siraj screamed in anger.
Atkinson managed to keep Woakes off strike in the next over, too, taking a single off the final ball from Krishna's over.
First ball of the next over, from Siraj, it was Atkinson's turn to have his offstump blasted out -- the Indians in the field went crazy with joy, the Indians in the stands burst into beer-soaked celebration.
Fifty-three balls into the morning, after 56 minutes of play, India got a win they richly deserved, and desperately wanted.
A 2-2 series result seems fair, for a 1-3 loss would have been cruelly unjust --- especially to Siraj, who bowled 185.3 overs in the series for 23 wickets and never seemed to give up belief.