Was England-India as great an epic as the 2005 Ashes? Not quite

Former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff (Reuters Photo)

After the 56 minutes of drama on Monday morning at The Oval, much of the talk turned to where this remarkable England-India series would be placed in Test cricket’s pantheon. For India, who had clinched their fourth-biggest victory by runs at Edgbaston in the second Test, this was their narrowest win while defending a total. Inevitably, given the number of former England cricketers in the media space, comparisons were made with the 2005 Ashes, still widely considered the greatest Test series of all time.

So, how did India and England of the 2025 vintage stack up alongside that remarkable 2005 series, won 2-1 by Michael Vaughan’s home side? For one, the pitches were totally different. Back then, only one batsman – Kevin Pietersen in his debut series – averaged over 50, and just three others over 40. In this series, as many as eight batsmen had averages over 50, with Shubman Gill leading the way (75.40).

This series was a run-fest, with an astonishing 21 centuries made. Again, Gill was at the front of the queue with four. In 2005, there were only eight, with England’s Andrew Strauss the only one to make more than one.

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But the similarities are too uncanny not to mention. In 2005, Australia’s leading pace bowler, Glenn McGrath, played only three of the five Tests after stepping on a ball on the morning of the Edgbaston game. Twenty years later, Jasprit Bumrah, India’s talisman, sat out both Edgbaston and The Oval.

The Oval finish, with Mohammed Siraj yorking Gus Atkinson, also brought to mind the Edgbaston finish of 2005, when England prevailed by two runs after Michael Kasprowicz edged Steve Harmison behind.

Then, there are the great escapes in Manchester. In 2005, after being set 423 to win, Australia batted 108 overs to save the Old Trafford Test. Ricky Ponting’s defiant 156 led the way, but McGrath and Brett Lee had to survive the last 26 balls after the captain was the ninth man out. Two decades later, it was the turn of Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar to defy England.

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There were also two incredible all-round performances. The late, great Shane Warne scored 249 runs and took 40 wickets in 2005, while Ben Stokes tallied 304 runs and 17 wickets in four Tests before sitting out The Oval game.

No comparison is complete, however, without looking at the quality of the XIs. And there, 2005 sits comfortably ahead. That was an all-time-great Australia XI, with half a dozen legends in the ranks. With the exception of Bumrah and Jadeja, none of the Indians is yet a candidate even for an all-time Indian XI.

As for England, they had assembled their best-ever pace attack in 2005, though Andrew Flintoff, Harmison, Matthew Hoggard and the unfortunate Simon Jones would never play together again. The quartet took 75 wickets that summer and were a cut above anything England put on the park this year.

And needless to say, comparing India’s attack with an Australian one that had Warne and McGrath is little short of ludicrous. In terms of drama, 2025 matched its predecessor step for step. In terms of quality? Not even close.