Cricket
Ben Duckett hit a majestic, match-winning 149 as England chased down 371 on the final day at Headingley; Rishabh Pant became the first India batter to score centuries in both innings of a Test in England; but how did we rate them and the rest of the players from a thrilling first Test?
Tuesday 24 June 2025 23:58, UK
England pulled off their second-highest run chase in Test cricket to beat India in thrilling fashion in the first meeting at Headingley, while the visitors became the first side to lose a Test despite scoring five centuries – so here’s how we rated the players from both sides…
Batting: 4 and 65
Crawley could make a compelling case for a higher score, given he played his part in the 188-run opening partnership to kick off England’s stunning run chase, but just the 65 of those came off his bat in the Ben Duckett-dominated stand.
Crawley got good balls in both innings – the Jasprit Bumrah jaffa to dismiss him for four in the first innings was a particular belter – but he never looked particularly settled at the crease even as he and Duckett laid a match-winning platform in the second.
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Batting: 62 and 149
What an innings from Duckett on day five!
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Though he did not see things through to the end, very much kicking himself for his rather tame chip to cover that ended his majestic 149, the damage had already been done… most of it by reverse sweeping!
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Not only is it the best of Duckett’s six Test tons – even though his 182 at Lord’s against Ireland and his 153 in a losing cause at Rajkot were higher – it is also an innings that sits him firmly alongside the likes of Ben Stokes (135no, 2019 Ashes) and Mark Butcher (173no, 2001 Ashes) with one of the all-time match-winning knocks ever played at Headingley.
Batting: 106 and 8
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The man under the most pressure in the England batting line-up coming into this Test – having been preferred to Jacob Bethell at No 3 – emphatically answered his critics with a fine first-innings century, his third in a row on home soil following a ton to end last summer against Sri Lanka and his 171 against Zimbabwe a month ago that pretty much pencilled him in for this Test.
He will be frustrated to have added only six to his overnight century on the third morning, while he was bowled cheaply by a devastating nip-backer from Prasidh Krishna in the second innings, but he showed his prowess again in the field with a terrific diving catch at cover to claim Karun Nair for a duck.
Batting: 28 and 53no; Bowling: 0-21
Just the man for a crisis. Maybe that is too strong a word for the situation England faced late on the final day when wickets in consecutive Krishna overs first brought him to the crease at 206-2, before Shardul Thakur then claimed Duckett and Harry Brook off back-to-back balls to make that 253-4.
But regardless, England will be hugely thankful to have Root’s calm head at the crease to see them home thereafter.
Even when his great mate Stokes fell, Root serenely ticked off the remaining runs – with the help of Jamie Smith – through to a 66th Test fifty, more than making up for his waft at a wide one when dismissed by Bumrah in the first innings.
Batting 99 and 0
A frustrating Test in the end for Brook, especially given that it promised so much more after 111 balls of his first innings, when he was poised on 99.
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But he hooked his 112th ball straight down deep backward square’s throat to deny himself a first hundred for England on his Headingley home ground, and he shelled a costly catch in the slips off KL Rahul – who would go on to make 137 – when on 58.
He then fell for a first-baller on the final day, casually glancing a thin edge down the legside.
And while his magnificent first-innings knock should not go forgotten, he could so easily have bagged a pair if not for Bumrah overstepping when getting him out late on the second evening.
Bowling: 4-66 and 1-47; Batting: 20 and 33
Brilliant with the ball, he was the pick of the England bowlers – certainly in the first innings, if not both.
With the bat it is a different story, with Stokes still looking short on time in the middle after playing so little cricket since having surgery on his injured hamstring in December. He flung his bat up in frustration following his first-innings dismissal, chasing and edging a wide one from Mohammed Siraj, while on this occasion he was not the hero in a Headingley run chase on the final day.
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As captain, barring a brief spell after lunch on day four when he emptied the slip cordon in the face of Rishabh Pant’s onslaught, he again got most things right.
40 and 44no
A couple of more than handy cameos with the bat from England’s wicketkeeper, who continues to take to Test cricket like a duck to water, the 24-year-old showing absolutely no nerves whatsoever when tasked with a nervy 69 runs still to be ticked off on the final evening. He simply smashed 44 of them, including sending the winning runs for six to sign off in style.
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Bowling: 0-103 and 1-45; Batting: 38
His second-innings caught-and-bowled dismissal of Karun Nair saw him avoid the very real prospect of going wicketless in a home Test for the time since doing so in just his second England Test back in 2014.
He looked a little short of a gallop and rusty during India’s first innings, but deserved greater reward than that solitary Nair strike in the second. He also provided 38 valuable runs with the bat.
Bowling: 1-96 and 3-80; Batting: 22
Deserved greater reward than the four wickets to his name over the entire Test. A rival to Stokes as England’s most consistent performer with the ball across both innings, while he was another to chip in with a few handy lower-order runs.
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A testament to his performance was the players he got out, including the at-the-time immovable Rahul – twice – as well as Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill cheaply in the second innings, the former out to a beauty that nipped away from the left-hander late to claim the edge through to Smith.
Bowling: 4-86 and 3-72; Batting: 11
Seemingly christened ‘the mop’ by Duckett due to his ability to clean up the tail, we saw that on full display in both innings as Tongue’s 4-86 was front and centre of India’s first-innings collapse of seven for 41, while he claimed three in an over during their second-innings stumble of six for 31.
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He would have liked to have proven more penetrative to the India top order and, despite his seven-for, his spot in the side could come under threat from the newly-fit Jofra Archer as early as the second Test at Edgbaston should England make the bold call to immediately throw the Sussex quick in for his first Test in over four years.
Bowling: 1-100 and 2-90; Batting: 1
Bowled better than his overall figures of 3-190 suggest, holding down an end for his skipper for large periods, but questions will remain over his spot in the side and whether England would be better served with a more experienced operator in the XI – particularly against India’s skilful operators against spin.
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Batting: 101 and 4
England will be sick of the sight of the immensely talented 23-year-old opener, with three of his five Test hundreds through his 20 caps coming against Stokes’ side.
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Thankfully from an England point of view, he at least did not convert his first-innings ton into a double-hundred like he did his first two, with his 101 the first time he has failed to convert one of his centuries into a score of 150-plus.
Carse picked him up cheaply second time around, while the youngster was also the biggest offender in terms of the numerous catches put down by India in the field, shelling three.
Batting: 42 and 137
What a subline second-innings 137 that was from the India opener – his ninth Test ton and eighth overseas – while his first-innings 42 after being inserted by England should also not be undersold.
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Sky Sports Cricket‘s Dinesh Karthik summed up his yin and yang partnership with Rishabh Pant perfectly – one that added 195 in the second innings – saying that Rahul was the “classical music” to Pant’s “hip hop”, which we will get to in due course…
Batting: 0 and 30
Not a Test debut to remember. Not only was Sudharsan one of three batters to bag a duck in the first innings (with six logged by the side for the Test) but his modes of dismissal on both occasions were particularly soft, a legside strangle first time around and then a chip to midwicket – both off Stokes.
Batting: 147 and 8
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In his first Test as India skipper, Gill certainly delivered with the bat, stepping into Virat Kohli’s sizeable shoes at No 4 with a sublime first-innings 147, but as well as suffering a second-innings failure – chopping Carse onto his stumps on the fourth morning – the 25-year-old showed his inexperience as a leader when the game got away from India on day five, with Rahul often the one seen barking out instructions in the field.
Batting: 134 and 118
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Deserving of a 10 for the somersault that greeted his first-innings hundred alone – even though he did not repeat the celebration second time around despite Sunil Gavaskar urging from the crowd – his back-to-back centuries took him clear of MS Dhoni for the most by an Indian wicketkeeper and saw him become the first batter from his country to hit hundreds in both innings of a Test against England.
Bonkers batting at times – hello the ‘falling scoop’ – but utterly brilliant all the same, and England are struggling to find an answer to him. That is five of his eight Test tons that have come against England.
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Batting: 0 and 20
Made to wait more than eight years for his seventh Test cap, his first innings back lasted all of four deliveries – out for a duck – as Pope claimed a stunning, diving catch at cover. How is your luck, Karun?!
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He at least avoided the ignominy of a pair on his long-awaited Test return, though his 20 runs scored in the second innings before chipping one back to Woakes will not make him feel any more settled in the side. I mean, this is a man once dropped after scoring a triple-ton against England (in 2016).
Bowling: 0-68 and 1-104; Bowling: 11 & 25no
The left-arm spinner will be seeing Duckett reverse sweeping him to all parts in his nightmares up until the second Test at Edgbaston.
He let himself down by failing to bowl into the sizeable rough patch outside the left-hander’s off stump as Duckett made hay, and by the time he realised and began landing it on that precise spot, it was already too late.
Bowling: 0-38 and 2-51; Batting: 1 and 4
A pretty anonymous Test for the bowling all-rounder until the very last day when his dismissals of Duckett for 149 and Brook first ball threatened to take the game away from England.
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Until that point, Thakur was very much part of India’s two seismic batting collapses of seven for 41 and six for 31 as he tallied five total runs for the Test, while he bowled only 10 wicketless overs at the cost of 57 runs prior to his fruitful late burst.
Bowling: 5-83 and 0-57; Batting: 0 and 0
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Cemented himself, if he had not already long before this Test, as the greatest bowler in the world. His first-innings 5-83 was a fast bowler at the peak of his powers as he accounted for England’s first three wickets – Crawley to an unplayable near leg-cutter that jagged away late, as well as Duckett and Root – and then returned to polish off the tail on day three.
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He perhaps faded a touch on day five, appearing in his first Test since a back injury ruled him out of the final Sydney Test of India’s tour of Australia in the winter.
That said, he was still very much seen as the danger man by England’s batters and they handled him with extreme caution while looking to cash in at the other end – a sign of the high esteem they hold him in.
Bowling: 2-122 and 0-51; Batting: 3 and 0
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A Test more notable for his on-field confrontations with Brook in the first innings and Duckett in the second as his frustration grew at his failure to make inroads into the England line-up.
Took two wickets in the first innings despite not being at his best – with the hosts getting after him – whereas he failed to be rewarded in the second despite bowling much better on the final day. Go figure.
Bowling: 3-128 and 2-92; Batting: 1 and 0
Took a long time to get into the Test match, his 20 first-innings overs costing a massive 128 runs, and with his three wickets somewhat gifted to him by Pope, Brook – on 99 – and Smith, rather than owing to any great skill on his part.
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Second innings, while still expensive and going at greater than a run a ball, Krishna looked arguably more dangerous than Bumrah and co, bowling at good pace and finding assistance from the wearing surface to see off Crawley and Pope in consecutive overs.
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