LEEDS: Harry Brook fell for 99 on his home ground and the brilliant Jasprit Bumrah took five wickets on Sunday to leave the first Test between England and India at Headingley finely poised.
England were bowled out for 465 on the third day in reply to India’s first-innings 471.
India stretched their lead by the end of the day to 96 at 90-2 thanks to K.L. Rahul’s 47 not out, with Shubman Gill fresh from a century in his first innings as India captain, unbeaten on six.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, another of India’s three first-innings century-makers fell for just four on Sunday when the opener was caught behind off an exceptional Brydon Carse delivery that cut away sharply off the pitch.
New batsman Sai Sudharsan avoided the embarrassment of ‘a pair’ on Test debut, after his first-innings nought, with 30.
But England captain Ben Stokes, so often a partnership breaker, ended a second-wicket stand of 66 when Sudharsan chipped an inswinger to Zak Crawley, stationed at short midwicket for such a dismissal.
Earlier, when Brook was dismissed just one run shy of three figures, England were still 73 behind at 398-7.
But new-ball bowler Chris Woakes, recalled to lead the attack in place of the injured Gus Atkinson, almost got England on level terms with a handy 38, which included consecutive sixes off paceman Prasidh Krishna.
Bumrah then wrapped up the innings by bowling Josh Tongue to finish with excellent figures of 5-83 in 24.4 overs.
Brook’s aggression, in an innings in which he had three reprieves, eventually proved his downfall.
One run shy of what would have been a first Test century at Headingley — and ninth in 26 matches — he mishooked a Krishna bouncer to Shardul Thakur at fine leg.
The Yorkshireman threw his head back in agony following the end of a typically dashing 112-ball innings featuring 11 fours and two sixes.
He had been caught off a Bumrah no-ball while still on nought in Saturday’s last over and on Sunday he was dropped on 46 and 82 — with both those chances ones India should have taken.
England resumed on 209-3, 262 runs behind, with Ollie Pope exactly 100 not out after coming in with the hosts in trouble at 4-1.
Pope, having added just six runs off as many balls, edged behind as he tried to cut a wide ball from Krishna.
Brook treated Bumrah, widely regarded as the world’s leading bowler, with disdain with a charging drive through the covers for four.
But Mohammed Siraj had Stokes caught behind for 20 with a fine delivery that cut away as the all-rounder, without a Test century for two years, threw his bat in the air in frustration.
Brook should have been out on 46 when he pushed forward to left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja only for Rishabh Pant to drop the thin nick.
One over before the new ball became available, Jamie Smith pulled a Krishna bouncer for six, even though there were fielders back on the boundary.
Two balls later he tried to repeat the stroke but holed out for 40 to deep square-leg where Jadeja, realising he was going over the rope, relayed the catch to Sudharsan.
Brook was missed again on 82 when fourth slip Jaiswal dropped a two-handed catch off a deliberate steer off Bumrah.
At that stage, England were still more than a hundred runs behind and when Brook went into the 90s with a superb lofted drive for six off Siraj it looked as if he would make India pay dearly for shoddy fielding.
But Bumrah mopped up the tail to leave the first of this five-Test series on a knife edge.
Scoreboard
INDIA (1st Innings) 471 (S. Gill 147, R. Pant 134, Y. Jaiswal 101; B. Stokes 4-66, J. Tongue 4-86)
ENGLAND (1st Innings, overnight: 209-3):
Z. Crawley c Nair b Bumrah 4
B. Duckett b Bumrah 62
O. Pope c Pant b Krishna 106
J. Root c Nair b Bumrah 28
H. Brook c Thakur b Krishna 99
B. Stokes c Pant b Siraj 20
J. Smith c Sudharsan b Krishna 40
C. Woakes b Bumrah 38
B. Carse b Siraj 22
J. Tongue b Bumrah 11
S. Bashir not out 1
EXTRAS (B-8, LB-18, NB-7, W-1) 34
TOTAL (all out, 100.4 overs) 465
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-4 (Crawley), 2-126 (Duckett), 3-206 (Root), 4-225 (Pope), 5-276 (Stokes), 6-349 (Smith), 7-398 (Brook), 8-453 (Carse), 9-460 (Woakes)
BOWLING: Bumrah 24.4-5-83-5 (4nb), Siraj 27-0-122-2 (1nb), Krishna 20-0-128-3 (1w), Jadeja 23-4-68-0, Thakur 6-0-38-0 (2nb)
INDIA (2nd Innings):
Y. Jaiswal c Smith b Carse 4
K.L. Rahul not out 47
S. Sudharsan c Crawley b Stokes 30
S. Gill not out 6
EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-1, W-1) 3
TOTAL (for two wickets, 23.5 overs) 90
STILL TO BAT: R. Pant, K. Nair, R. Jadeja, S. Thakur, J. Bumrah, M. Siraj, P. Krishna
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16 (Jaiswal), 2-82 (Sudharsan)
BOWLING: Woakes 6-2-18-0 (1nb), Carse 5-0-27-1, Tongue 5-0-15-0 (1w), Bashir 2.5-1-11-0, Stokes 5-1-18-1
Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2025
