#ENGvIND-1stTEST-2025: England Give Young Team India A Lesson, Win First Test By 5 Wickets; Ben Duckett Slams Ton, Calm Joe Root Anchor’s Chase

Opener Ben Duckett hit the most defining century of his career, exposing an out-of-depth Indian attack as England comfortably chased down a tricky target of 371 to win the opening Test by five wickets after an intriguing five days of play in Leeds .

Duckett’s 149 off 170 balls with 21 fours and an audacious reverse-swept six off Ravindra Jadeja, along with Zak Crawley’s 65 in an opening stand of 188, followed by Joe Root’s composed 53 and Jamie Smith’s cheeky 44 made the chase look much easier than it actually was.

England appeared to be cruising to a dramatic win as openers Duckett and Zak Crawley eased their side to lunch on 117-0 in their second innings.

Duckett continued his imperious form with another four through the covers to reach his sixth Test hundred, before Crawley fell for 65, their 188-run partnership the second highest England opening fourth-innings stand in Tests. England  now lead the five-match series 1-0.

Two wickets in two balls — Duckett and Harry Brook — dragged India back into the enthralling contest and when Ben Stokes fell for 33 attempting an ambitious reverse sweep, England’s hopes of victory lay precariously in the balance.

Joe Root’s unbeaten 53 calmed the nerves around his home ground, with the former skipper and Jamie Smith, who hit a six to seal victory, seeing England home as India, having scored five centuries in the match ( Rishabh Pant in both innings, K l Rahul, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal) somehow contrived to start the five-Test series in defeat.

“Incredible, what a Test match. It was a huge number of runs and we have been lucky with the weather,” Duckett said. “I am lost for words.

“We only had to look at the scoreboard to know that if we batted the overs, we would win the game. There were moments when I thought about stepping into another gear but the breaks in the game helped us to stay calm.

“To start this series with a 1-0 win is huge for us. It felt calm in the dressing room. To have Root out there, it’s pretty easy to be calm.”

It will be difficult to recall when was the last time that India had five centurions in a single Test and yet lost a game so comprehensively.

Shoddy fielding effort and no support for the peerless Jasprit Bumrah made matters worse for India. Indian bowlers in second innings alone conceded 44 boundaries and three sixes. Add to that the 54 boundaries and five sixes in the first innings.

With 69 runs to get, Root brought his 150-plus Test experience to play, guiding a young Smith through and through during the unbroken sixth-wicket stand that sealed the deal for England.

While this was one of India’s worst fielding efforts with Yashasvi Jaiswal alone dropping four catches, skipper Gill’s relative inexperience in strategizing and taking on-your-feet decisions also became visitor’s undoing.

Duckett was dropped by Jaiswal off Siraj on 97, much to the frustration of the bowler.

When Jadeja bowled, Duckett would reverse-sweep him for good measure as there was not much help off the surface.

If one reverse sweep was hit behind the square and went for boundary, the other one was even more audacious and over extra cover for a six.

India has ro recover fast from humilition as second Test at Birmingham starts on July 2. So wake up TEam India head coach Gautam Gambhir and Skipper Shubman Gill.