India paid heavy price for their sloppy fielding as Shubman Gill started with a loss in the first Test against England on his captaincy debut on Tuesday at the Headingley in Leeds. Following the retirement of Rohit Sharma last month, Gill was named the new Indian Test captain.
Chasing 371 runs to win and 350 on the final day, England rode a fine 149 from Ben Duckett and half centuries from Zak Crawley (65) and Joe Root (53 not out) to romp home with five wickets in hand. The 188-run opening wicket stand between Duckett and Crawley laid the foundation for England to take a 1-0 lead in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
It was also Gautam Gambhir’s seventh loss in 11 Tests as a head coach. India’s wins under Gambhir came against Bangladesh (two matches) and Australia (one) last year. Jamie Smith (44 not out) hit the winning runs as England record their second highest successful run chase in Tests.
India were themselves to blame. For most past of the match, India dominated England with as many as five hundreds, including two from Rishabh Pant, but dropping as many as seven catches sinked the visiting ship with Yashasvi Jaiswal involved in four of them.
Although Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur got two wickets each in the England second innings, Jasprit Bumrah’s wicketless spell also contributed to India’s defeat.
