What happened on Day 5 of the 1st ENG vs IND 2025 Test in Leeds?

England beat India by five wickets at Headingley in Leeds in the first Test on Tuesday, June 24 to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Set to chase a challenging target of 371, the hosts got home in the last session of what was a thrilling Test match. Following the defeat, India became the first team to lose a Test match after registering five individual hundreds.

England resumed Day 5 at 21-0, needing exactly 350 for victory. They made a brilliant start as openers Ben Duckett (149 off 170) and Zak Crawley (65 off 126) featured in a 188-run stand. India's bowlers looked completely pedestrian as Duckett opened up after Jasprit Bumrah's initial burst. Even as the left-hander went on to attack, Crawley played the anchor role to near perfection.

While their bowling wasn't highly penetrating, India's fielding let them down yet again. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had a horrible Test match in the field, dropped Duckett off Mohammed Siraj's bowling in the 39th over. Siraj forced a top-edge off a short ball, but Jaiswal, running in from deep backward square-leg, spilled the chance. Earlier, Bumrah couldn't hang on to a tough return catch of Crawley.

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Joe Root guides England home after India strike back in Leeds

England went to lunch on Day 5 at 117-0 and continued their great work in the second session as well. At one point it seemed that India might fail to get a single wicket. Prasidh Krishna eventually broke the opening stand, having Crawley caught at slip with a good delivery outside off. India had two in quick succession when Ollie Pope (8) was knocked over by a nip-backer from Prasidh.

Duckett and Joe Root (53* off 84), however, steadied the ship for the hosts, adding 47 runs for the third wicket. Just when it seemed like the game was slipping away from India, Shardul Thakur struck, having Duckett caught at cover one short off 150. Harry Brook (0) fell very next ball, caught down the leg side.

At 253-4, India had a sniff. However, there was no spectacular comeback as Root kept the scoreboard ticking in the company of skipper Ben Stokes (33 off 51) and Jamie Smith (44* off 55). Root added 49 for the fifth wicket with Stokes and an unbroken 71 for the sixth-wicket with Smith. The winning runs came off Smith's bat as he clobbered Ravindra Jadeja for a six over wide long-on.