India, Aug. 5 -- In a nail-biting, riveting hour of cricket at England's oldest test match ground, in characteristically cloudy Olde Blighty weather, India pulled off a historic heist.

They pulled the chestnuts out of the fire in a dramatic, pulsating fifth day of a face-off whose intensity has only risen through the summer, to win the 5th and concluding encounter of the series by a sliver of six runs. Thus, they deservingly drew the sequence of games 2-2. It's a result that will stand the Indians in good stead in their campaign to qualify for the 2027 World Test Championship final.

Fittingly, the indefatigable Hyderabadi Mohammed Siraj was declared Player of the Match. In the absence of India's more celebrated quicks, Jasprit Bumrah an...