England vs India: Key takeaways from Headingley Test
What's the story
England beat India in the 1st Test at Headingley in Leeds on June 24. The hosts claimed their sixth successive Test win on this ground after successfully chasing down 371. The win was powered by a 188-run opening stand between centurion Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley on Day 5. The series opener had several twists and turns. Here are the key takeaways.
Match
A look at match summary
An inexperienced Indian line-up, being invited to bat, scored 471 in the first innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant slammed tons. England responded well (465), with Ollie Pope (106) and Harry Brook shining. Jasprit Bumrah took a fifer. In the second innings, India (364) banked on tons from KL Rahul and Pant but faced a collapse. England's 371-run chase had numerous twists.
Pant
Pant's bravado stuns England
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the match was Pant's audacity. He once again dominated the Englishmen in their own backyard. Pant, who scored 134 and 118, became the seventh Indian with centuries in both innings of a Test. However, he is the first Indian to do so in England. The wicketkeeper-batter, who performed his somersault in Leeds, once again exhibited his bold strokes.
Collapse
Twin batting collapses for India
Although India's top order was on fire, the middle order collapsed in both innings. Despite tons from Pant and Rahul, India collapsed from 287/4 to 364/10 in the second innings. Earlier, India went down from 430/3 to 471 all-out. As per Cricbuzz, the difference of 656 runs between the top five (721) and bottom six (65) is the highest for India in a Test.
Gill
Gill shines in first Test as captain
Gill, who replaced Rohit Sharma as India's Test captain, certainly led from the front. At 25 years and 285 days, Gill became youngest Indian captain with a 50+ score in their maiden innings as Test captain. The 25-year-old led terrifically despite having a fresh batting attack. Although Gill's captaincy was attacking, all six of of his reviews while fielding were unsuccessful.
Fielding
Jaiswal drops four catches
India were sloppy in the field throughout the two innings. Jaiswal was among the culprits as he dropped four catches in the match. Three of those came in the first innings. Duckett (twice), Pope, and Brook received reprieves. As per Cricbuzz, Jaiswal's four dropped catches are now the joint-most by an Indian player in a Test.
Karun Nair
How Karun Nair fared on Test comeback
Senior batter Karun Nair was rewarded with a Test comeback. Playing his maiden Test in over eight years, Nair recorded a four-ball duck. He had a set platform but failed to capitalize. The 33-year-old, one of India's two triple-centurions, scored a 54-ball 20 in the second innings. He played some crisp strokes, however, a soft dismissal to Chris Woakes ended his stay.
Bowling
India's weak link
Bowling was India's weak link in the first innings. Bumrah took the bulk of wickets but received minimal help from the other end. He ended up with a record-breaking five-wicket haul. However, Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj could not thwart the English batters. Both of them conceded 100-plus runs, sharing five wickets. Ravindra Jadeja was wicketless in the first innings.
Start
Scintillating start from Jaiswal, Rahul
Against all odds, India's opening combination of Rahul and Jaiswal fared well on Day 1 under overcast conditions. There were concerns about India's batting line-up after Rohit and Virat Kohli's retirements, but Jaiswal and Rahul showed tremendous application. Their 91-run opening stand laid the foundation for India's successful first-innings score. Jaiswal's historic ton had classy strokes all around the ground.
England
England's lower order steps up
Pope's magnificent first-innings ton was supported well by cameos from others. While England were down to 276/5 with Ben Stokes's departure, Harry Brook (99) took them toward 400. Jamie Smith (40), Woakes (38), and Brydon Carse (22) scored valuable runs to bring England back into the contest. The visitors, who were behind, came neck-to-neck with India by stumps on Day 3.
Bowling
Impactful spells from Josh Tongue
England's pace attack suffered a blow in the absence of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer. They earlier underwent an overhaul with the retirement of James Anderson. While England's pace attack revolved around Stokes and Woakes, Josh Tongue bowed impactful spells in both innings (4/86 and 3/72). Tongue triggered India's batting collapse in the second innings, taking three wickets in an over.