Years down the line, when Indian cricket observers talk about the English summer of 2025, the Headingley Test will always be remembered as ‘the one that got away’. Five centurions, domination over three days, giving England a target of 371 on the final day on a tiring pitch with Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja in the armory and everything suggested an India win. But standing in the way was an England team that is brave and believes that past records don’t matter. No, they weren’t playing the old mindless variant of ‘Bazball’. This was a methodical surge towards a target — the second-highest ever chased at this ground — as England went 1-0 up in the series with 15 overs still to play. After controlling a good part of the first two sessions on the final day with openers Ben Duckett (149 off 170 balls) and Zak Crawley putting up 188 in 42.2 overs, England suddenly were in a spot of bother after a rain break. Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur — two bowlers who largely disappointed through most parts of the game — suddenly shared four wickets among themselves in quick time and there was a flutter in the camp. But there was a lower middle order still to follow, something that had let India down horribly in this Test match. While Shubman Gill’s team lost 13 wickets over two innings for 72 runs, the likes of Ben Stokes (33) and Jamie Smith (44) were ready to take the battle to India.
And then, there was a Joe Root. Root, who is closing in on Sachin Tendulkar’s record of highest Test runs, was like a monk with a paintbrush on a beautiful English afternoon. The tumult and noise of the outside world didn’t penetrate his universe. Root just went about his business in his quiet unassuming style, with a smile on his face. There was sharp turn from the rough for Jadeja, there was the threat of Bumrah, there was a Prasidh Krishna who had suddenly got some confidence back, but nothing affected Root. Quietly and surely, he took England to victory, as wicketkeeper batter Smith played a smart hand, finishing it off with a six off Jadeja. While Root’s finishing touches lingered, it was Duckett and Crawley’s first-session heroics, when they blunted Bumrah, that set the platform for this memorable chase. They knew Bumrah’s first five overs would hold the key to this Test match, and they played those with extreme caution.Quiz: Who’s that IPL player? In a situation like that, it was on Bumrah’s support cast to rise to the occasion, but neither Siraj, Prasidh, Shardul nor Jadeja came to the party. The biggest culprit in the first session was Prasidh, who bowled short to the openers as they took full toll. The fact that he was bowling both sides of the stumps didn’t help India’s cause either. The paceman somewhat redeemed himself with a correction of length in the second session, but it was too little too late. Duckett, who had scored a superb century on a turner in Rajkot a year-and-a-half ago, had a plan for Jadeja. The left-hander, who is also a quality hockey player, used his drag-flick skills as he swept and reverse swept the left-arm spinner ferociously from the rough outside his off-stump. Jadeja didn’t know where to bowl to the southpaw and there was a period in the second session when it seemed that India’s defeat would come about very swiftly. Duckett got a life as well on 98, when Yashasvi Jaiswal dropped him at deep-square leg. The opener added another 51 crucial runs. There was rain-break midway through the second session and Indian bowlers came back with a plan. Prasidh corrected his length and removed Crawley. He had Ollie Pope soon after. Duckett and Pope too fell. But then, the class of Root shone through.
