That's it from an exciting Test match which ends in the final hour of day 5! A great advertisement for the purest form of the sport we all love. Good fight shown by a young team India playing under a new leadership group. Few dropped catches and other important moments went against the side which kept the game alive until the final hour or so. A week long gap with the teams heading to Birmingham for the 2nd Test to begin on Wednesday, July 2nd. Plenty of Test match action continues around the world with Sri Lanka hosting Bangladesh and West Indies & Australia both kick starting their WTC campaigns. As it stands at Leeds, England become the first team to win a match in the current WTC cycle defeating India by 5 wickets.
Ninaad Dixit, Akshaya Krishna Polya, scorer/analyst Bishal Mandal and statistician Aman signing off. STAY TUNED for more action from around the world.
Finishing Unbeaten in Successful run chases in Tests for England:
10 - Graham Thorpe
8* - Joe Root
8 - Sir Alastair Cook
Most runs chased on day 5 in Tests: 404/3 by Australia vs England at Leeds, 1948 (Target - 404) 352/5 by England vs India at Leeds, This Match (Target - 371) 344/1 by West Indies vs England at Lordβs, 1984 (Target - 342)
Highest Match Aggregates in a Completed Test Match with Proper Result:
1768 - Pakistan vs England, Rawalpindi, 2022
1753 - Australia vs England, Adelaide, 1921
1723 - England vs Australia, Headingley, 1948
1675 - England vs New Zealand, Trent Bridge, 2022
1673 - England vs India, Headingley, 2025, This Test*
Ben Stokes (England Captain): "We have got some good memories here at Headingley. So, one more to add to it. It was an awesome Test to be part of. Chasing a big total on the final hour of the last day was amazing.
You don't know what'll happen before a ball is bowled. You take the choice that you think is best, depending on the delivery.
We considered what would give us the best chance to win when deciding to bowl. We saw a bit of grass and moisture on the pitch, and we thought it would do a bit for us. The opposition is allowed to play well; we bowled well in the first session. India also played incredibly on day one. I didn't think I should have made a different call at any time.
Duckett was unbelievable. Opening the batting in the fourth innings and chasing is tough, especially here in England. His partnership with Crawley was crucial. They understand each other well. They complement each other well. Getting that good start set us up brilliantly. The way Crawley was able to stay composed and get those 60 was important as well.
Chasing down totals gives you confidence, but it's not a dead set; that's how it goes. To win against quality opposition, as we have on numerous occasions, gives us confidence.
It's been a great start to the series. A long summer is coming up. There have been many skills contributing to the win. We have been on the field for long periods, but we turned up each session with an attitude that we'll blow the game open. Tongue's spells in each innings were game-changing for us. No, our bowlers bowled well. The last day shows us that it was a good wicket. Having a good attitude was important, and we did that. Hard work and toil we put into bowling to the top order paid off as Tongue took out the tail cheaply. Very much looking forward to the next four Tests."
Shubman Gill (India Captain): "A brilliant Test match. We had chances in the match, a few dropped catches and the lower order didn't contribute as it would have been.
Yesterday we were thinking to give them around 400-430 to chase and declare but our lower order added around 20-25 runs which is never a good sign but even today I thought after their brilliant opening partnership we did have our chances but just didn't go our way.
[On dropped catches] Chances don't come easy on wickets like these and we dropped quite a few catches but we have got a young team which is still learning. Hopefully in the next matches we'd be able to improve on those aspects.
[What could be done different as a captain] The first session we bowled, we were quite spot on but it's quite hard to stop the runs once the ball gets old and you have to keep picking wickets to stay in the game. Unfortunately some catches didn't find the fielders, didn't go our way but I think they batted really well. After the ball got old they took their chances and their opening partnership took the game away from us.
[On Jadeja on day 5] He bowled brilliantly. He created some chances for us, few pop ups but that happens in a game of cricket. You kind of expect some chances to go your way.
[On Bumrah] It's definitely more game by game. There's a good break after this Test match so once we are close to the match, we'll see."
Ben Duckett (POTM): "Not sure, to be honest. Just incredible Test match to be part of. India were superb. To go into the last day and finish like we did was incredible. Wanted to get through last evening without losing wickets. We wanted to get through that period.
It was clear this morning that if we batted through, we would get home and didnβt overthink it. Just saw out Jaspritβs first spell and then played our natural game.
2022 Edgbaston was mentioned, but I wasn't there in that Test. Guys in the dressing room believed. Weβve said it a number of times, everyone was incredible. At times, we were completely behind. India played really well on Day 1. We have shown maturity throughout the day and shown how much it means to win. At times, we were behind in this game, but massive credit to our bowlers who got the tail out cheaply. Else, you would add 50-60 runs to the target, which would be a different ball game.
We saw how Zak Crawley did well in the last game against Zimbabwe. He played well and was calm. Respect good balls and put the bad ones away was the way to go. Jasprit Bumrah was superb in the first innings. To limit his impact was massive for us. We played him very well today. He is a world-class bowler.
Tough to play Jadeja with a straight bat, especially with him bowling on the roughs outside off, it's (reverse sweep) a shot I go to a lot. Sometimes, I use it to get to the other end, later in the innings, for boundaries.
At the start of the partnership between Root and Smith, it would have been a different game had they gotten a wicket, but Root, there being calm, kept us calm in the dressing room. Jamie Smith taking us home at the end was amazing."