Mohammed Siraj landed in England as Jasprit Bumrah's trusted sidekick and then produced a stellar display across five gruelling tests to prove that he possesses both the heart and the craft to lead India's pace battery.

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.

From being the second act to being the man who said, “I want to play this Test and win it for India”, life has come a full circle for Mohammed Siraj. The India pacer finished the five-match Test series against England with 23 scalps.