Jamie Smith of England bats during Day Five of the 1st Rothesay Test Match between England and India (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
England achieved the impossible, chasing down a record target of 371 against India in the final hour on Day 5 of the series opener at Leeds on Tuesday. It was the second-highest successful chase in England’s Test history. India, who dominated the Test for the first four days, were left stunned as their bowlers had no answer to England’s counterattack on the final day at Headingley. From the magnificent opening stand between Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley to Joe Root’s stubborn resistance in the fourth innings, and from India’s dropped catches to their lower-order collapses in both innings, RG looks at the numbers that defined the Leeds Test.
Second-Highest Chase for England
England rewrote the history books, mowing down 371 in the fourth innings at Leeds in just 82 overs at a rate of 4.54. It was their second-highest successful chase in Test history. Incidentally, their highest chase also came against India at Edgbaston in 2022 when they gunned down 378 in under 77 overs with seven wickets in hand. More similarities between Leeds 2025 and Edgbaston 2022: Zak Crawley was involved in a century partnership for the opening wicket at Birmingham, just as he was at Headingley. Joe Root was defiant, remaining unbeaten on 53 at Leeds; he had hammered a brilliant undefeated 142 at Edgbaston.
Overall, it was the 10th-highest chase by any team in Test history. Moreover, the 350 runs England scored on Day 5 were the second-most in a chase on the final day of a Test, behind Australia’s 404 against England, also at Leeds, in 1948.
England have now chased down targets of 250 or more runs on eight occasions since 2019—the most by any team. No other team has achieved this feat more than twice—a direct consequence of ‘Bazball.’
The Duckett-Crawley Partnership
Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley hammered 188 for the opening wicket in just 42.2 overs. While Crawley anchored the innings, Duckett, the aggressor, smashed 106 off 130 deliveries during the stand, laying the foundation for a famous England victory. It was the fifth-highest opening-wicket stand ever in a 300-plus chase and the highest since 1995.
The Duckett-Crawley partnership has been integral to England’s Bazball revolution in Test cricket since the summer of 2022. No pair in the world has scored more runs together than the English duo. They have amassed 2,114 runs in 48 innings at an average of 44.97, with four century stands and 12 fifty partnerships since the New Zealand home tour in 2022.
Root, the Gourth-Innings Hero
Joe Root played a crucial role with the bat during England’s chase on Day 5 at Headingley. He weathered the storm after England lost the wickets of Crawley and Ollie Pope in quick succession, remaining composed even when Shardul Thakur brought India back into the match by dismissing Duckett and Harry Brook off consecutive deliveries in the 55th over. Root was cool, calm, and collected—qualities that have defined his batting throughout his celebrated Test career—and remained unbeaten on a match-winning 53. Significantly, it was Root who was undefeated on a magnificent 142 on Day 5 at Edgbaston during England’s highest-ever Test chase in 2022.
Root has a fantastic record in the fourth innings of Test matches, a testament as much to his technique and skill as to his temperament. He averages 52.77 in the fourth innings since 2020—the highest among all batters who have scored a minimum of 400 fourth-innings runs in this period.
India’s Twin Batting Collapses
India ended on the losing side despite scoring five centuries in the match, becoming the first team in history to suffer this dubious distinction. India collapsed from 430/3 in the first innings to 471 all out. They then fell like ninepins in the second innings, folding for 364 after being in a strong position at 333/4. Thus, India lost seven wickets for 41 runs in the first innings and their last six wickets for just 31 runs in the second—a collapse of catastrophic proportions that allowed England to bounce back and ultimately take control.
Ten Dropped Catches
India dropped a record 10 catches at Leeds—the most by the team in any Test since 2011. Yashasvi Jaiswal was the culprit-in-chief, dropping four catches, the costliest being the missed opportunities against Duckett in both innings. The dropped chances proved extremely costly and were among the major reasons for India’s defeat.
Pant’s Twin hundreds
Despite the loss, there were positives for India at Leeds. Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Shubman Gill registered fine hundreds, while Jasprit Bumrah displayed class with the ball in the first innings. Pant was the standout for India, creating history by becoming the first Indian batter to score a century in each innings of a Test in England—an achievement matched by only nine visiting batters in history.
Pant now has eight Test hundreds, placing him third on the all-time wicketkeepers’ list. Only Adam Gilchrist (17) and Andy Flower (12) have more Test centuries.
Pant is fast emulating Adam Gilchrist, widely regarded as the most destructive wicketkeeper-batter in Test cricket history. Gilchrist batted in Australia’s lower order, dramatically changing many matches through aggressive counterattacks. He scored 13 centuries against major adversaries—six at a strike rate above 100—from positions six to eight. Australia won 10 and drew two of those 13 matches.
Seven of Pant’s Test hundreds have come against SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) countries. He had a strike rate in the 70s for three of these centuries and in the 80s for another three. The standout innings was his 111-ball 146 against England at Edgbaston in 2022, struck at a remarkable rate of 131.5. Notably, five of these seven hundreds came when India had their backs against the wall after early top-order collapses. Batting at number five, Pant averages 59.7 with a strike rate of 81.8. Only Harry Brook has a higher scoring rate from this position (minimum 1,500 runs) in Test cricket.
Nikhil Narain is a die-hard cricket romantic, published author, and has worked for some of the leading digital websites and broadcasters in India and overseas. An alumnus of the London School of Economics, Nikhil's forte is using data and numbers creatively to weave interesting stories and revolutionize the way cricket statistics are generated and analyzed.
