New Delhi: Ben Duckett’s 149 led England to a famous win as they defeated India by 5 wickets in the first Test match to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. The target was to chase 371 runs and the England achieved it, rather comfortably. Apart from Duckett, Zak Crawley and Joe Root hit half centuries; and Jamie Smith added crucial runs towards the end. For India, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur scalped two wickets each.
While England’s batters were undeniably in sublime touch, India’s fielders rolled out the red carpet for them. The age-old phrase “catches win matches” seemed completely lost on India’s fielding unit, which turned the first Test into a catalogue of missed opportunities.
In total, India dropped seven catches across the match. According to CricViz, this was the first time since 2019 that India fumbled five or more times in a Test.
Not that India has been historically much better in this department. The country holds the record for the most missed chances in a Test match, with 12 drops against England in Mumbai (2006), as reported by Cricket Monthly. Meanwhile, the record for the most missed chances in a single innings stands at nine, shared by Pakistan (2005) and Bangladesh (2011).
By the end of England’s first innings, India had already put down six catches—half of them by Yashasvi Jaiswal, who gave lifelines to Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, and Harry Brook. Rishabh Pant and Sai Sudharsan weren’t much better either, with their butterfingers.
But the sloppiness didn’t stop there. On Day 5, with Duckett batting on 97, another chance went begging. A top edge off Mohammed Siraj flew to deep square leg, where Jaiswal charged in—only to drop it. Duckett went on to complete his century and more (149), rubbing salt into India’s wounds.
The dropped catch marked Jaiswal’s fourth of the match—getting him the unenviable record for most catches dropped by an Indian in a Test match, surpassing Ajinkya Rahane’s previous record of three (against Bangladesh in 2019).
To be fair, Jaiswal is far from a bad fielder. He has 20 Test catches to his name, including several sharp ones in close-in positions. But since the tour of Australia, his fielding graph has dipped, even though his performance with the bat has been super.
Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah had also talked about lost chances during a press briefing: “Just for a second (disappointment over dropped catches), you just cannot sit and cry about it. You have to move forward with the game. I try not to take it too far in my head and forget it.”
“A lot of them are new to the game, and for the first time, it is hard to see the ball here. Nobody is dropping catches intentionally, and it is a part and parcel of the game. They will learn from it. I do not want to create a scene and put more pressure on them, like kicking the ball or something,” Bumrah added.
A house of cards
While the lacklustre fielding and sub-par bowling will be blamed for the match slipping through the India’s fingers, one cannot ignore the collapse of India’s lower-order—not once but twice.
In the first innings, India were cruising at 430/3. The target of 550-600 looked within reach. But, the tail caved in in spectacular fashion—seven wickets crumbled for just 41 runs, putting brakes on what looked like a game-defining and historic innings.
Carrying a 96-run lead into their second innings, India got off to a dreadful start on Day 4, losing captain Shubman Gill just seven balls into the morning. However, K.L. Rahul and Rishabh Pant weathered England’s disciplined attack brilliantly. While Rahul held steady with his calm composure, Pant unleashed his trademark aggression—high-risk, high-reward cricket at its best.
Pant’s counter-attack got his name in the record books. He became only the second wicketkeeper, after Andy Flower, to score eight Test centuries, and the first Indian wicketkeeper to achieve the feat.
Notably, six of Pant’s eight tons have come in away Tests—114 vs ENG (2018), 159* vs AUS (2019), 100* vs SA (2022), 146 vs ENG (2022), and 134 & 118 vs ENG (2025)—but none of those games ended in India’s victory.
Despite centuries by both Rahul and Pant in the second innings, India still fell at least 70–80 runs short of what could’ve been a match-winning lead.
Once again, the lower order let the side down.
At 333/4, India had England on the ropes with a 339-run lead and were on the track of achieveing the target of 450. But in a frustrating deja vu moment, the last six wickets fell for just 31 runs, closing the innings at 364.
England’s openers made the most of it. By stumps on Day 4, Duckett and Crawley had knocked off 21 runs without loss, bringing down the target to 350.
Test matches aren’t won with just top-order brilliance—you need a tail that wags. For India, it barely twitched.
Dangerous duo
Duckett and Crawley held the fort for England—smashing boundaries at regular intervals and keeping the scoreboard ticking.
Despite trying every bowling combination, the Indian bowling attack struggled to break through, as the openers continued to frustrate and dominate, putting England in the driver’s seat from the start.
Duckett in particular was unflustered by the presence of Jasprit Bumrah. With sound technique and sharp judgement, he handled Bumrah’s pace and variations with ease, showing no visible signs of pressure.
Bumrah didn’t pick a single wicket, and it exposed the inability of Indian bowlers to get breakthroughs without him.
At one stage, England’s fight wasn’t with India—it was with the rain gods.
Rain intervened to force an early tea break, just as Shardul Thakur gave some hope to India by removing Ben Duckett and Harry Brook in quick succession.
Prasidh Krishna soon added to the pressure by dismissing Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope. It did create chances for India to claw back into the match. But it was too little, too late.
Veterans Joe Root (53) and Ben Stokes (33), along with Jamie Smith’s 44-run cameo guided England to a emphatic 5-wicket win over Shubman Gill’s side.
The Headingley triumph will be etched in England’s Test history as their second-highest successful run chase.
Fittingly, their best still remains the 371-run pursuit against India at Edgbaston—the same venue where both teams will meet again for the second Test on July 2.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: England vs India, 1st Test, day 1: How Gill’s 100 & Pant’s 50 set India off to a running start