With the help of Ben Duckett's century and half-centuries from Jack Crawley and Joe Root, England defeated India by five wickets on the fifth day of the first Test match. England has thus taken a 1-0 lead in the five-match Test series. India had set a target of 371 runs in front of England. England won by scoring 373 runs for five wickets in the second innings. In this way, England achieved the second big target in the Test on its soil.

India had achieved a slight lead.
England won the toss in this match and decided to bat first. India scored 471 runs in the first innings and got a slight lead of six runs by bowling out England's first innings for 465 runs. India's second innings was all out for 364 runs on the fourth day and it gave England a target of 371 runs by gaining a total lead of 370 runs. England easily achieved the target on the last day and succeeded in taking the lead in the series.

First defeat under Gill's captaincy
The Indian team is playing this series in the absence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli who recently retired from Test cricket. Gill was made the captain in place of Rohit, but he lost in his first match as captain. However, India still had a chance as it was the first match of the series. For India, the lower order did not contribute well in batting in the first innings and second innings, which proved costly. At the same time, the bowlers also could not perform well in the second innings, which was a major reason for the defeat.

Poor performance of bowlers
The Indian team could not win this match despite taking the lead in the first innings. The biggest reason for India's defeat was the poor performance of the bowlers in the second innings. England started the fifth day with 21 runs without any loss. England needed 350 runs to win on the last day, while India had to take 10 wickets. Jack Crowley and Ben Duckett batted brilliantly for England and took the team to a strong position by sharing 188 runs for the first wicket. Both these batsmen did not allow India to get success in the first session on the fifth day.

Duckett Crawley's brilliant partnership

India took four wickets in the second session, but in the end, Root and Smith took charge and gave England the victory. For England, Root returned unbeaten after scoring 53 runs, and Jamie Smith 44 runs. For England, Duckett scored 149 runs, Crawley scored 65, captain Ben Stokes scored 33, Ollie Pope scored eight runs, while Harry Brook returned to the pavilion without opening the account. India's star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who took five wickets in the first innings, remained empty-handed in the second innings and could not take a single wicket. For India, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur took two wickets each, while Ravindra Jadeja got one wicket.

Bad start to the new cycle of WTC
India has made a bad start to the new cycle (2025-27) of the World Test Championship. India is in the fourth position in the points table. At the same time, England has reached the top with a win in the Leeds Test. They have 12 points in their account and the points percentage has become 100. Like India, England has also started the new cycle of WTC with the Leeds Test. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are in second and third place respectively. The first match played between the two ended in a draw. Now the Indian team has to play the second match of the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy in Birmingham. This match will start with two matches.

PC Social media