London, Aug 1 (IANS) Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj led a brilliant fightback for India by picking four wickets apiece as the visitors kept England’s lead down to 23 runs after dismissing them for 247 in 51.2 overs on Day Two of the fifth and final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at The Oval here on Friday.

When England put on an entertaining 92-run opening stand off only 12.4 overs and reached 109/1 at lunch, it felt that they would run all the way to take a huge lead. But from the post-lunch session onwards, Siraj got crucial scalps through his nip-backers and yorkers to pick 4-86 and be the current leading wicket-taker of the ongoing series.

Prasidh then troubled batters with up-and-down bounce as well as sideways movement to take 4-62. For England, Zak Crawley and Harry Brook went on to make half-centuries. While Crawley top-scored with 64, Brook’s 53 helped England take a slender lead and leave the match on a knife-edge, especially with India set to bat for an hour and 40 minutes.

The final session began with Gus Atkinson creaming Siraj and Prasidh each for a boundary. But on the fifth ball of the 47th over, Atkinson couldn’t middle his pull shot and mid-on took a simple catch to give Prasidh his fourth wicket.

Brook then swept Siraj for six in a style reminiscent of Rishabh Pant, before rain caused the proceedings to stop for 40 minutes. When play resumed, Brook brought up his 13th Test fifty off 57 balls. But Siraj managed to finish with four wickets as Brook tried to clip one away but was only left to see his stumps being rattled. With no Chris Woakes available for batting, it brought an end to England’s innings at 247, their lowest total of this series.

Brief scores:

India 224 in 69.4 overs (Karun Nair 57, B. Sai Sudharsan 38; Gus Atkinson 5-33, Josh Tongue 3-57) trail England 247 all out in 51.2 overs (Zak Crawley 64, Harry Brook 53; Prasidh Krishna 4-62, Mohammed Siraj 4-86) by 23 runs

–IANS

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