The first Test of the ongoing five-match series between England and India ended up going in favour of the hosts at Headingley. With 350 more runs to get on the final day’s play, the hosts chased it down comfortably to win by five wickets.
Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley were successful in weathering out the spell bowled by Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. Although not a lot of runs were scored, but them staying put at the crease meant a lot more for the English. The flow of runs automatically increased once Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur came onto the bowl.
Duckett went on to register his 15th half-century in Tests. It came off just 65 balls. England brought up their team’s hundred by the end of the 25th over. Crawley was offered a significant reprieve by Bumrah a couple of overs before the end of the first session. The speedster failed to hang onto a sharp caught-and-bowled chance. England headed into Lunch with all 10 wickets in hand.
It was an extremely positive start by the hosts post the Lunch break. By the end of the 38th over, they had already got to 165/0. Duckett was dropped on 97 by Yashasvi Jaiswal at deep backwards square-leg. He went onto get to his sixth Test ton in the subsequent over. There was a short interruption due to rain shortly after, which Prasidh Krishna struck to get rid of Zak Crawley (65 off 126) and Ollie Pope (eight off eight).
Joe Root joined Duckett in the middle. Duckett was the aggressor between the two during their shared time at the crease. It was the 55th over of the innings that brought about a double strike from Shardul Thakur. Duckett (149 off 170) was dismissed one short of a 150. Harry Brook, who was dismissed on 99 in the first innings, headed back for a golden duck.
Root and Ben Stokes ensured there were no more hiccups till when Tea was taken. They built on their stand once the third session had begun. It seemed as if they were well on track for guiding their side to a win together before Stokes (33 off 51) fell to a reverse-sweep to Ravindra Jadeja. It was a tense start for Jamie Smith. He registered his first boundary on his 16th delivery.
Bumrah was nowhere to be seen after a three-over burst post the Tea break. The other bowlers couldn’t really stem the flow of runs. Root brought up his fifty with a four which flew past Gully on the final ball of the 81st over. Smith finished off things in style with an 18-run over off Jadeja. He ended up unbeaten on 44 off 55 deliveries. India were comprehensively defeated at the end.
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