It wasn’t exactly shocking that Shubman Gill was the Indian Player of the Series. England head coach Brendon McCullum had already decided after the fourth day of the Oval Test. At that point, England needed 35 runs to claim the series, 3-1.
Gill, the pre-decided choice
Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton were on the crease. Gus Atkinson was still to come. Smith had scored one hundred and two fifties in the series already. Overton had played one Test prior and scored 97. Atkinson has a Test hundred. It should have been a rather easy victory. That didn’t happen.
Dinesh Karthik, who was one of the broadcasters, has revealed that McCullum claimed his mind after watching Mohammed Siraj rip through England on the fifth day as India won by 6 runs, their lowest ever margin of victory.
“If the match had gotten over yesterday (Day 4), Shubman Gill was the man of the series. Brendon McCullum had said Shubman Gill. And obviously, (Michael) Atherton was the one doing the presentation. So, he had all the questions ready. Everything was for Gill,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
Game-changer Siraj final pick
McCullum was taken aback by Siraj’s effort. The pacer bowled a 185.3 in the series. In the last innings of the match itself, Siraj delivered 30.1 overs. He opened the game in the first innings with the wickets of Joe Root, Ollie Pope, and Jacob Bethell, and then finished it with a 5-wicket haul in the second innings.
“Baz McCullum turned it around in a matter of half an hour, 40 minutes — to Mohammed Siraj. He even spoke about him in the post-match with Sky Sports—about how he enjoyed watching Siraj bowl and all the eloquent things he had to say about him,” Karthik added.
The English head coach praised Siraj after his herculean effort. He was amazed by how Siraj still had energy despite him carrying a potential leg niggle and being completely gassed out. And that’s why McCullum changed his mind, but the issue was that Atherton didn’t have a clue about it. So, it was Gill who got the award.
“He’s got that spirit you want to see in a fast bowler. Every time he had the ball in hand, there was energy. You could see how much it meant to him. It was one of those spells that can change a series, and today, it really did,” McCullum told Sky Sports after the game.
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