India, Aug. 8 -- Thirty-five runs, four wickets, and the biggest battle of their sporting lives. While the rest of India nervously watched this ethereal equation unfold through the gaps in their fingers, paceman Mohammed Siraj and his band of brothers refused to believe they were beaten.

Over the next hour, every ball became an event, every boundary a knife through the heart, and every wicket delirium. Finally, after 53 remarkable deliveries at an Oval packed to the rafters on an overcast south London morning, Indian cricket turned a corner on August 4, 2025.

It is a date that will live on in the sport's annals. The headline may itself be unremarkable - a 2-2 draw in England - but it will live on whenever new generations of followers un...