"The truth is England panicked" - Former captain slams hosts for failing to keep calm during tense run chase in ENG vs IND 2025 5th Test

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan called out the hosts for panicking during the tense run-chase in the fifth Test against India at The Oval. He admitted that the Englishmen had sustained a significant loss in Ben Stokes but felt they ought to have won from the position they were in.

The hosts were still favourites when they required 35 runs on Day 5 (Monday) with four wickets in hand. However, they fell seven runs short of the target of 374 as Mohammed Siraj's tireless effort paid off as he took a fifer after flattening Gus Atkinson's off-stump.

In his column for The Telegraph, the 50-year-old wrote:

"I do not want to be too hard on a team that have had a lot of misfortune this week. They went in without perhaps their most important-ever cricketer, and then lost a key bowler on the opening day. England lost by six runs to India effectively playing with 10 men, so I do not want to be too critical. But the truth is England panicked."

The 2005 Ashes-winning skipper opined that all England needed was a steady hand in the middle and that their approach was too risky. He wrote:

"The closer they got, within 70, they tried to be more high risk. The approach was wrong on the final morning. It was too risky. If it takes 15 overs, so be it. You do not need to whizz 35 runs in five overs. All it needed was one steady head."

He continued that a loss such as this one hurts when England ought to have emerged victorious, writing:

"If India lost in that fashion, we would have said they yipped up. If South Africa lost like that, we would say they choked. It was that bad a miss. That will really hurt. When you know you should win a game, it is so painful."

Vaughan further claimed that the conditions were not that hard to bat on and that swing was the only challenge to counter at the venue, adding:

"It is a great achievement to get so close, but when you have got 70 to win, you should waltz home in your own conditions. It was swinging but it was not spitting or keeping low. We should have been better at chasing that on the last morning. They had done the hard work."

The Englishmen had succumbed to 106/3 on Day 4 of the fifth Test, but Harry Brook and Joe Root stitched a brisk 195-run stand. It was Brook's wicket for 111 that proved to be the turning point, as Joe Root also perished after scoring 105 due to sustained pressure. England crumbled to 339/6 and were eventually bowled out for 367.

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"I turned up thinking England would win" - Michael Vaughan

Michael Vaughan. (Image Credits: Getty)

Vaughan went on to laud Siraj and observed that India's player pool and attitude mean they refused to get beaten. The retired cricketer added:

"A word for India. Every time I thought they looked down and out in this series they sprung back off the canvas, including on the final morning. I turned up thinking England would win, but led by Mohammed Siraj, they were magnificent. With their player pool, you would expect them to be a skilful side, but they have so much heart and such a great attitude that means they are never beaten."

Siraj deservedly earned the Player of the Match award for taking nine wickets in the Test.

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Edited by Aditya Singh