Mohammed Siraj grabs a memento of India’s stunning win that earned a series draw at the Oval - Getty Images/Alex Davidson

Test cricket is the cruellest sport: a game in which five days of toil, and 25 in a five-match series, can be decided by impossibly fine margins. But, just occasionally, Test matches get the denouement that they deserve.

For Mohammed Siraj, justice came from the 1,113th ball that he bowled against England this series. With a pinpoint yorker, the fast bowler knocked out the base of Gus Atkinson’s off stump. He wheeled away, spread his arms aloft in celebration before being engulfed by his team-mates. This pulsating series had the most-fitting ending: a six-run India victory, clinching a 2-2 draw.

If his captain, Shubman Gill, won India’s player of the series award, Siraj was scores ahead of anyone on either side as the most durable cricketer. A lethal cocktail of the intense schedule, flat pitches and an unusually unresponsive Dukes ball has made this series unforgiving for bowlers, stretching to every single allotted day.

Jasprit Bumrah was only fit to play in three Tests, Ben Stokes in four. As Siraj charged in to deliver the final delivery of the series, the only other bowler to play in all five Tests, Chris Woakes, was at the non-striker’s end, with his left arm in a sling.

Siraj, cast as the pantomime villain for much of the series, outlasted them all.

Siraj savours the winning moment with Dhruv Jurel - Reuters/Paul Childs

He had also willed himself to ignore what threatened to be his cruel fate this series: as least-deserving loser. On day four at the Oval, Siraj caught Harry Brook at fine leg, only for his right leg to clip the boundary edge. As Brook advanced from 19 to 111, Siraj received constant taunting from England’s fans, reminding him of his drop.

As evident throughout his skirmishes with England’s batsmen this series, Siraj’s facial expressions do not suggest a natural poker player. His evident self-disgust after dropping Brook showed his fear that his error would determine the series result. Instead, he summoned all his desire to try and push the series towards a different denouement.

Such desire is, perhaps, the abiding theme of Siraj’s journey. The son of an auto-rickshaw driver, Siraj learnt the game playing in tennis-ball leagues in Hyderabad; the upbringing shaped his skinny style and full length. Siraj did not bowl with a hard ball until he was 20. A year later, he was representing his state.

Siraj called upon this same desire in Australia in 2020, when selected for his first Test tour. During the grim years of the pandemic, Siraj’s tour began with a 14-day quarantine period, able to leave their hotel rooms only for training. All of this, only to be a travelling reserve.

Early in the tour, Siraj’s father died. If he returned home to attend the funeral, he would not be able to return Down Under. But Siraj remembered his father’s dream: to see him play Test cricket. The next day, he went to training again.

“Your father’s dua [blessing] is with you,” Ravi Shastri, then India’s head coach, told Siraj, as documented in the book The Miracle Makers. “You’ll end up with a five-wicket haul in this Test series.”

After injuries granted Siraj his Test debut, Shastri’s prediction came true in Brisbane. Siraj raised his hands aloft to salute his father.

Never would his father have been prouder than at the Oval, as Siraj’s sheer indestructibility led India to victory in one of the greatest Tests of the 21st century.

Yet the adulation for Siraj’s sheer zest for the fight, should not obscure his skill. Remarkable physical durability, allied to a spirit that refuses to be broken, can only take a fast bowler so far. Siraj’s brilliance is to combine these with phenomenal skill: moving the ball both ways at speeds above 85mph, with an action that continually threatens the stumps. He has honed these qualities not just through his own relentless determination to improve, but also India’s modern system: he played 16 first-class games for India A before his Test debut.

Siraj gets in Ben Duckett’s face after dismissing the England batsman in the third Test at Lord’s - Getty Images/Clive Mason

Siraj is often lauded as Bumrah’s perfect foil. Yet his performances in this series have illustrated that he is not just a superb accompaniment for Bumrah, but also a worthy attack-leader in his place.

Extraordinarily, India lost 2-0 in the Tests that Bumrah played, but won both games when he was rested. In the two Tests that Bumrah missed, at Edgbaston and the Oval, Siraj took 16 wickets. This continued a trend, of Siraj being better in Bumrah’s absence. He now averages 35 in Tests alongside Bumrah, but just 25.1 when Bumrah is absent.

After this pulsating hour at the Oval, Siraj is now the author of a moment that will continue to be replayed throughout India’s Test history. Amid his euphoria Siraj rushed to claim a memento. Rarely has a stump been so well-deserved.

England vs India series ratings

Ollie Pope does not have the technique of a No 3

Sign up to the Front Page newsletter for free: Your essential guide to the day's agenda from The Telegraph - direct to your inbox seven days a week.