Five centuries by Indian batters but that was not enough for Shubman Gill’s side to prevent a defeat in the opening Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
An insipid performance by the lower order — India lost 13 wickets for 72 runs across their two innings — coupled with poor fielding and the bowlers’ struggle on a fifth-day wicket contributed to the five-wicket loss at Headingley, Leeds, on Tuesday.
England pulled off a superb 371-run chase made easier by a rollicking century from Ben Duckett. It was Jamie Smith who smashed Ravindra Jadeja for a six to pull off England’s second-highest run-chase in Test cricket.
India certainly had their chances, but failed to latch onto them. They will rue the collapses across both innings, the missed catches and will have to come up with something a lot better in the remaining four Tests to turn it around.
The England openers will have to take the bulk of the credit for this memorable chase. Duckett led with 149 off 170 balls and added 188 with Zak Crawley for the opening wicket. Shardul Thakur removed Duckett and Harry Brook off consecutive balls, but captain Ben Stokes and Joe Root stitched together a 49-run stand for the fifth wicket.
In the end, Root and Smith’s unbroken 71-run stand took England home amid a standing ovation from the Headingley crowd.
Duckett’s innings included 21 fours and an audacious reverse-swept six off Jadeja. It was reminiscent of England’s 378-run chase at Birmingham in 2022, courtesy Root
and Jonny Bairstow’s 269-run unbroken fourth-wicket partnership.
In the final session, Jadeja, who enjoys a favourable match-up against Stokes,
got the important breakthrough with the England skipper failing to reverse-sweep from the rough. But that was not enough since India’s bowling lacked the firepower to stop the marauding English batters.
While this was one of India’s worst fielding efforts with Yashasvi Jaiswal alone dropping four catches, skipper Gill’s relative inexperience showed, especially during the tense run chase. When India needed to take wickets, Gill was content with spreading the field and not showing attacking instincts.
Gautam Gambhir’s record as a coach in Tests got a tad worse. India have now lost seven Tests and won just one out of the 11 since he has been in charge.
Poor planning
Test matches are not just about scoring centuries, it is also about marshalling one’s resources and ringing in the right changes on the field. That is one of the reasons why Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma became successful captains.
For most of Duckett’s 170-ball stay at the wicket, Gill was left searching for answers.
The English batters were out with a plan, especially Duckett. With Jasprit Bumrah failing to make any inroads, Duckett was intent on not allowing Jadeja to settle into a line. The lefthanded opener greeted him with two reverse-slaps to the cover boundary as he returned to bowl after lunch.
He was lucky on 97 when Mohammed Siraj induced a false shot but Jaiswal spilled a catch at deep backward square leg.
He reached his sixth Test century — second against India — in trademark style a little later, nailing a reverse-sweep off Jadeja.