IND vs ENG: How the game ebbed and flowed towards an England stroll

Ben Duckett (149) and Zak Crawley (64) who had an imposing opening stand of 188-1, under very difficult conditions in the first session, had set the stage. Later Joe Root (53 not out) and Ben Stokes (33) offered the finishing touches. That wasn’t how it looked at tea.

Those winning celebrations, as seen from the Western Terrace 😍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 pic.twitter.com/TkIgeI5TXQ

— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 24, 2025

Before the final session, finally after seven batsmen had hit centuries, five bowlers had conceded more than hundred runs, close to 10 catches were dropped, with one five-wicket haul and several rain stoppages, England needed 102 runs in about 37 overs to win the opening Test of the series against India at Headingley.

At the crease were the present and former England skippers – Stokes and Root – veterans of many impossible chases, the brain trust of England’s famous aggressive Bazball brand of cricket. Stopping the home chase to 371 in the fourth inning was a young Indian captain Shubman Gill keen to make an early impression. There were characters, a riveting plot and context too. But still there was no drama.

The suspense saga ended about a couple of hours later. England recorded a five wicket win. As they celebrated, India would be ruing the missed chances, thinking of going back to the drawing board and mulling over ways to bounce back. The fight for the inaugural Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, two greats known for their battles of fine margins, had seen a game that went into the last session on Day 5. The home team’s win coming from a steep chase meant ticket sales for the rest of the rounds at Birmingham, Lord’s, Manchester and The Oval have picked up. That’s what the suits were discussing loudly.

Measured in chase

From the start of the day, from the pundits to the casual fans, everyone knew that the result of the Test would be determined by the way in which the English batsmen negotiated Jasprit Bumrah when the ball was new and countered fourth-innings destroyer Ravindra Jadeja when it got old. Both are among the most challenging cricketing puzzles. On a largely overcast day, Bumrah was to be the tougher task but the England openers were measured in their chase.

At 11 am when the game started, England, 21/0 overnight, needed 350 to win. They didn’t go for a flying start or got bogged down by playing through Bumrah and went for the slog later. They didn’t just look to survive, even when Bumrah bowled, but scored when needed.

Indian bowling, except Bumrah, didn’t seem to have learnt from their mistakes in the first innings. Siraj did have energy early in the first session, when he troubled the batsmen with seam movement. But he wasn’t consistent with this length. The performance of the other two pacers, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur, was also mediocre. They did take wickets, two apiece, but it was too late in the innings.

In the first session, they bowled too short and seam position wasn’t ideal to get swing in these conditions. India missed a bowler of Mohammad Shami’s skills. Thakur, under gloomy conditions, said to be ideal to move the ball in air, bowled with two men on the fence on the square. Duckett and Crawley got away easy as they were fed the length they preferred. Thakur was supposed to bowl up and bait the batsmen to drive and get the edge. He did not perform the role on a consistent basis. Ironically, towards the end of play, when Smith, a lower order batsmen, came to crease, the short-ball plan was not used either.

Reverse-swept to doom

Jadeja, on a brownish track with cracks, has a reputation for taking wickets but England’s collective ploy to use reverse sweep against him scrambled the all-rounder’s mind. Duckett started; Stokes and Root continued.

Before the game, India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel had said that they need to bowl on the stumps and keep the ball about 7 meters from the stumps. That just remained the coach’s wish.

All through the innings, Shubman was proactive in the field. He talked to his bowlers, consulted the seniors, change fielders, and switched ends of bowlers. But nothing worked. To be fair, no captain can set fields when they aren’t consistent with their line or length, or not understanding the conditions to exploit them.

What had started as a day of great possibility ended in disappointment. If India lose a Test after scoring 471 and 364 with Bumrah in the team, they need a rethink about the playing XI and tactics.

When the Indian players stepped out of the team bus, Jadeja, among the first to de-board, looked for the sun that was hidden by the dark clouds. After a few steps, he tapped the shoulder of Gill. The skipper partially removed his headphones and listened to the senior-most player of his side and nodded his head.

Among the last to leave the coach was India’s highest run-getter and vice-captain Rishabh Pant. He had a stroller in one hand and a cylindrical wifi speaker, blaring Punjab song, in the other. That speaker would have been on full blast in the dressing room had India won. But at Headingley, it was the Barmy Army’s trumpet that was echoing.