Recent Match Report – England vs India 1st Test 2025

India 471 and 90 for 2 (Rahul 47*) lead England 465 (Pope 106, Brook 99, Duckett 62, Bumrah 5-83) by 96 runs

Harry Brook threw his head back in despair after picking out long leg but his innings of 99 set up a tantalising one-innings match at his home ground. India had three first-innings centurions to England’s one and Jasprit Bumrah completed a dazzling five-for to prove he is a class above any other bowler on show, yet only six runs separated the two teams after eight sessions.

Reprieved before he had scored a run on the second evening thanks to Bumrah overstepping, Brook made India pay for their profligacy. He was dropped twice – on 46, then 80 – but played several outrageous shots as he approached his first Headingley Test hundred, only to fall into a short-ball trap by pulling Prasidh Krishna down Shardul Thakur’s throat.

But England’s lower order ensured that they raced towards parity. Where India had lost their last five wickets for 24, England added 189 in 35.5 overs, with Chris Woakes pulling back-to-back sixes to reach 2,000 Test runs. Bumrah cleaned up his stumps, then Josh Tongue’s, to clinch his third five-wicket haul in England and a slender, single-figure lead.

It meant the first Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy would be determined by both teams’ second innings, and KL Rahul batted with characteristic class to lay the early foundations for a steep England target. But Ben Stokes’ late wicket of Sai Sudharsan, three overs before rain brought an early close, left the match in the balance heading into the final two days.

More to follow…