England beat erroneous India to clinch Headingley game

Leeds: A total of seven centuries were scored in the hugely entertaining opening Test, but Ben Duckett’s magnificent ton full of grit and fire ended up being the crown jewel as England scripted a famous win over an erroneous India here at Headingley.

The 30-year-old opener, one of the key figures of the Brendon McCullum-Ben Stokes regime where massive emphasis has been laid on playing hyper-aggressive cricket without having to worry about failure, smashed a wonderfully crafted 149 (170b, 21x4, 1x6), the epic being the cornerstone of England’s eventually thumping five-wicket victory in chasing a massive 371 on Tuesday. For the record, it’s their second highest run chase ever.

In an extremely engrossing Test that ebbed and flowed till the very end, Duckett emerged as the undisputed hero as he systematically dismantled the Indian bowlers in challenging conditions. There will be lots of pats on the back for Duckett’s opening partner Zak Crawley (65, 126b), who too mixed dour with determination to defy the Indians. The duo’s 188-run partnership in just 42.2 overs completely deflated the Indian bowlers, who lacked the discipline and direction needed to close out such games.

The conditions for most of the final day were similar to the fourth. It was cloudy, cold, and windy for much of the day, with the sun showing its face only sporadically. Although the pitch was flat and dry, almost like sub-continent tracks, it still had good bounce with the odd ball doing funny stuff. It was what any bowling attack would have wished for.

Jasprit Bumrah, the leader of the attack, and his primary lieutenant Mohammed Siraj bowled their hearts out in an engaging opening hour. They probed and probed, dishing out superb deliveries but were extremely unlucky not to get a wicket. They kept beating the outside edges of both Duckett and Crawley, but the English duo countered them superbly. The batters just froze all their high-risk shots in the freezer, focussing purely on seeing out Bumrah and Siraj.

They then targeted the back-up acts Prasidh Krishna and Ravindra Jadeja, and when they broke for lunch at 117/0 in 30 overs, there was plenty of optimism in the England dressing room. Without taking any risks and by playing just good old-fashioned cricket, they were able to score at 4 runs an over.

The duo then upped the tempo post lunch as the run rate almost hit 5.50. The cuts, the pulls, the sweeps and reverse-sweeps came out as the Indians looked all at sea. Their energy level turned flat, the bunch seemingly missing the talismanic Virat Kohli and his aggression on the field. A dropped catch of Duckett while he was on 97 — who else but Yashasvi Jaiswal being the guilty party for a third time — didn’t help their cause either. They just went through the motion and hoped the wind would blow in their direction at some stage.

It did when Prasidh, who followed two good balls with at least one bad one which was punished brutally, managed to dismiss Crawley and Ollie Pope in back-to-back overs. Then Thakur, who’d been having a horrible game so far, dismissed the big fish Duckett and the dangerous Harry Brook off successive balls just before tea. It was just what the doctor ordered for the Indians as England still needed 102 runs with over a session left. Given how fortunes have fluctuated in the Test, the Indians sensed an opportunity but England motored on smoothly.

There was some tension when they lost skipper Stokes in the final session to a reverse sweep but his predecessor Joe Root, the local hero, was there to anchor a brilliant chase with a fine 53 not out. The two teams will break for a week before the second Test starts in Birmingham but there’s no doubt India will have a lot of questions to answer at having squandered a game they should have won or drawn at least. Remember Indian batters scored five centuries across two innings.

Scoreboard

INDIA (I Innings): 471

ENGLAND (I Innings): 465

INDIA (II Innings): 364

ENGLAND (II Innings, O/n: 21/0):

Crawley c Rahul b Prasidh 65

(126b, 7x4)

Duckett c sub b Thakur 149

(170b, 21x4, 1x6)

Pope b Prasidh 8

(8b, 2x4)

Root (not out) 53

(84b, 6x4)

Brook c Pant b Thakur 0

(1b)

Stokes c Gill b Jadeja 33

(51b, 4x4)

Smith (not out) 44

(55b, 4x4, 2x6)

Extras (B-12, LB-6, NB-3) 21

TOTAL (for 5 wkts, 82 overs) 373

Fall of wickets: 1-188 (Crawley), 2-206 (Pope), 3-253 (Duckett), 4-253 (Brook), 5-302 (Stokes).

Bowling: Bumrah 19-3-57-0, Siraj 14-1-51-0 (nb-1), Jadeja 24-1-104-1, Prasidh 15-0-92-2 (nb-1), Thakur 10-0-51-2.

Result: England won by 5 wkts.

Series: England lead 5-match series 1-0.

Second Test: July 2-6 (Birmingham).