Three things we learned from the first Test between England and India / Photo: © AFP
Three things we learned from the first Test between England and India
England beat India by five wickets in the first Test at Headingley after a superb 149 from opener Ben Duckett helped make light of a seemingly stiff chase of 371.
Below AFP Sport looks at three aspects of a gripping encounter that ended with England 1-0 up in five-match series:
Tail-end runs and wickets matter
India became the first side in the more than 60,000 game history of first-class cricket to score five individual hundreds in a match and still lose. This remarkable feat can be explained by collapses of 7-41 and 6-31 at the end of each innings
England fast bowler Josh Tongue, who removed several tailenders while taking seven wickets during the match said:. "I don't mind bowling at the tail. You've got a good opportunity to take wickets. All I tried to do was to hit the pitch hard."
Pant a modern marvel
Rishabh Pant could yet end his career having surpassed Australia's outstanding Adam Gilchrist as the most extraordinary wicketkeeper-batsman cricket has known.
His astounding audacity with the bat was on full display in Leeds as he became only the second wicketkeeper, after Zimbabwe's Andy Flower, to score hundreds in both innings of a Test match with 134 and then 118.
Some of Pant's shot-making, including over the shoulder flicks, at fast bowlers has to be seen to believed, with his continued involvement in cricket a triumph after he suffered life-threatening injuries in a horrific car crash in December 2022 that kept him out of action for 15 months.
KL Rahul, who made a relatively restrained 137 while Pant blazed away during the pair's fourth-wicket second-innings stand of 195, summed up the India vice-captain by saying: "I've had a few partnerships with Pant.
"It's hard for us to understand his mindset. You've got to let Rishabh Pant be Rishabh Pant, there's obviously a method to his madness!
"He's averaging (around) 45 in Test cricket, there's a lot of thinking behind the outrageous shots he plays."
Headingley delivers again
This match joined a long list of dramatic Test encounters at Headingley, the headquarters of Yorkshire, one of the cornerstone counties of English cricket.
There was the original 'Headingley miracle' of 1981, when Ian Botham scored a barnstorming 149 not out and fast bowler Bob Willis took 8-43 as England won after following on against Australia.
There was the 2019 version, where current England captain Ben Stokes steered his side to a stunning one-wicket win over arch-rivals Australia with a remarkable unbeaten hundred.
Headingley also staged a two-day Test in 2000 when fast bowler Andrew Caddick led Nasser Hussain's England to victory over West Indies.
But visiting teams have enjoyed their fair share of Headingley heroics too, with England great James Anderson ending a 2014 Test in tears after failing to hang on for a draw alongside century-maker Moeen Ali as Sri Lanka claimed their first series win in England.
F.Morgan--VC
