Key events
I’ll leave you with Ali Martin’s report from Headingley. Thanks for your company, see you in the morning. Big first hour!
Simon Burnton soaks up the Headingley atmosphere
Though a pleasant breeze took the edge off it, at lunch the biggest queues were for the water refill stations, and by tea the bars were virtually deserted but heaven help anyone who wanted an ice cream. A previously rather flat atmosphere perked up soon afterwards, potentially assisted by copious quantities of soft serve. Flake? Not us, pal.
Stumps
85th over: India 359-3 (Gill 127, Pant 65) Pant whirls Woakes for six, straight over the man at deep square-leg. Last over the day? Whatevs. To nick a line from our old friend Lawrence Booth, he’s flaying for the close.
That’s the last boundary of a spectacular day for India, who raced to 359/3 after being put in by Ben Stokes this morning. Shubman Gill would have bowled too, but he was glad to be batting as the flatness of the pitch revealed itself. Gill made a charming 127 not out, his first Test hundred outside Asia in his first game as captain, after Yashasvi Jaiswal’s stylish 101 set the tone.
Only Ben Stokes and to an extent Shoaib Bashir did themselves justice with the ball. If England want to get anything out of this game, they may have to change their policy on draws.
84th over: India 351-3 (Gill 127, Pant 57) A really good maiden from Carse, especially so late in the day, includes successive deliveries that beat Gill outside off stump. Time for one more over.
83rd over: India 351-3 (Gill 127, Pant 57) Urgh, I’m sorry, the picture keeps cutting out. Looks like a quiet over from Woakes.
82nd over: India 350-3 (Gill 126, Pant 57) Brydon Carse gets the Rishabh Pant treatment as well. After Gill edges a boundary, Pant charges Carse and whirls a violent one-bounce for to wide long-on.
There are some oohs in the crowd when Brook drops a swooping catch to his right, but replays confirm that the ball missed the edge and hit Pant on the hip.
81st over: India 338-3 (Gill 119, Pant 53) A nice, quiet start with the second new ball. Pant tries to slog-sweep Woakes’ second ball and somehow toe-ends it wide of mid-on for four. That could easily have gone to hand. An eventful over concludes with Pant missing a trademark fall-forward sweep. England go up for caught behind and LBW to no avail; Stokes rightly decides not to review.
80th over: India 331-3 (Gill 118, Pant 49) Sorry, we’ve had a few technical problems, but we’re back just in time for the second new ball.
78th over: India 324-3 (Gill 113, Pant 46) Bashir bowls his 20th over, all in one spell. He isn’t getting as much action on the ball as earlier in the day, though he continues to give England a degree of control.
77th over: India 322-3 (Gill 112, Pant 45) It took a while, but it’s time for the famous England Short-Ball Ploy. Tongue has men scattered everywhere on the leg side, so India know what’s coming. Gill and Pant pull two singles each, though Pant’s second was completely mistimed as he jumped inside the line. Not quite a moral victory for Tongue, but a moral something. A moral winning draw?
76th over: India 318-3 (Gill 110, Pant 43) An errant delivery from Bashir curves onto Pant’s pads and runs away for four leg-byes. India are putting the foot down in the final hour: they’ve scored 40 from the last five overs, 28 from the last three.
Shubman Gill makes a century on his captaincy debut!
75th over: India 312-3 (Gill 109, Pant 42) There it is! Gill laces Tongue to the cover boundary to bring up a majestic hundred, his first in Tests outside Asia and the first of many as captain. His beans were going a bit in the nineties but that aside it’s been an immaculate performance: 140 balls, 14 fours.
Gill yells with delight, takes over his helmet and bows to the Indian balcony. Heaven help world cricket if the captaincy empowers him with the bat as it did Virat Kohli.
Oof, Gill has a moment of fortune off the last ball of the over, top-edging a pull that just clears Bashir at long leg and goes for six. Bashir was a few yards in from the rope, although I’m not sure it affected his chances of a catch.
74th over: India 300-3 (Gill 98, Pant 41) Pant laps Bashir very fine for four, a shot of rare skill. After the scalpel comes the sledgehammer, a violent straight six next ball. That brings up the 300 for India, with power to add. England have officially entered a world of pain.
“Pant’s clearly not on fire today,” says Brian Withington, “but is it a case of a gentle simmer threatening to come to the boil, or a long slow sous-vide today that gets heated up violently tomorrow?”
You’re asking me to partake in a cooking metaphor? Have you seen my fridge?
73rd over: India 290-3 (Gill 98, Pant 31) Gill edges Tongue wide of slip for four, then looks for a sharp single to Stokes at mid-on. Pant sends him back, BECAUSE IT’S BEN STOKES, MAN, and Gill has to dive to make his ground.
Even Shubman Gill, who been a study in elegant serenity all day, is susceptible to the nervous nineties. But he’s almost through to the other side.
“This is all going swimmingly for India,” writes Mike Jakeman. “think the under-appreciated thing about this side is just how deep the batting goes. If one or two have a lean trot, they can bring in the likes of Dhruv Jurel. Very Australia 1994 vibes.
“Which suggests a long series for England’s bowlers and to an outlandish prediction, which is that we’ll see Liam Dawson in whites before the end of the series, especially if England’s batting is struggling against Bumrah…”
While you may well be right, England’s lower-middle-order batting looks the least of their worries right now.
72nd over: India 284-3 (Gill 93, Pant 30) Bashir drops fractionally short, which allows Pant to rock back and pull lustily for four. Then he miscues a straight drive that lands short of Carse, running round from straight long-off, and then Gill survives a big LBW shout after missing a sweep. Possibly outside the line, possibly bouncing over.
Correction: definitely outside the line. But another nice piece of bowling from Bashir.
And here’s a preview of our weekend coverage
71st over: India 278-3 (Gill 92, Pant 25) Tongue replaces Woakes and is flicked for a single by Pant, who now has 25 from 59 balls and 21 from the last 57. What is this, 1989?
“Hello mate, happy start to the summer,” says Max Williams. “Bazball has its pros and cons but the lack of fatalism both short and long term is such a gift. Yeah today’s been tough but you still think they can win the match. And if they lose the match you’d still back them to win the series. I dunno if it will survive 0-2 in Australia but let’s cherish it will we can.”
I fear we may move in different circles as I’ve seen plenty of fatalism – not just today but since the middle of the last India tour. And when I’m the most optimistic person in the room, you know there’s a problem.
Simon Burnton’s first piece of the day has landed
70th over: India 277-3 (Gill 92, Pant 24) Bashir continues after drinks. A whip from Pant is well fielded at midwicket; then Crawley hurls the ball a bit too close to Pant’s face. Not sure what that was about.
“I don’t believe you’re old enough to have seen Slasher Mackay,” says Steve Nicholson. “I never did, and I’m 70. But I can tell you that Surrey had a slow-scoring batter in the 1960s called Mike Willett, and from time to time someone in the crowd would shout out (no group chanting in those days) ‘Willett Won’t ‘it’.”
He did when he scored a century in 80 minutes against Middlesex in 1964! I should know – I was there.
Drinks
69th over: India 275-3 (Gill 90, Pant 24) Woakes beats Pant with a good-length outswinger from around the wicket. Things are starting to happen. Pant guides four to third man, then offers no stroke to a booming inswinger that whooshes past off stump.
68th over: India 271-3 (Gill 90, Pant 20) Pant skips down to Bashir, is completely beaten in the flight and adjusts to push the ball defensively on the off side. Lovely bowling.
Pant has a bigger let-off later in the over when he heaves an ungainly pull-sweep high in the air. It teases Crawley, running back from midwicket, before landing safely.
For much of the winter Bashir looked a lost soul. That certainly hasn’t been the case today and you could argue he has been England’s second-best bowler after Stokes.
67th over: India 266-3 (Gill 89, Pant 16) Woakes bowls an outswinger to Gill that goes a long way after passing the bat and squirms under the diving Smith for a bye. Another extra comes in the form of a Woakes no-ball, a fairly big one by his standards. But he is getting the old ball to swing, so it might be worth England trying a short spell from Harry Brook Brydon Carse at the other end.
66th over: India 262-3 (Gill 89, Pant 14) Still an hour and a half to play tonight, so England will have the option to take the new ball at some stage. For now Bashir is doing a good job with the old, although it is slightly surprising that India haven’t attacked him more often. After another quiet over, Bashir’s figures of 14-4-39-0.
65th over: India 259-3 (Gill 87, Pant 13) Woakes replaces Stokes after a creative, vigorous spell of 7-0-22-1. He starts with a grim old loosener that is cut effortlessly for four by Gill. Stokes aside, England’s seamers have bowled too many four balls all day.
64th over: India 253-3 (Gill 82, Pant 12) Pant, channelling his inner Slasher Mackay, plays out a maiden from Bashir. Since smearing his second ball for four, Pant has played with almost exaggerated restraint: he’s scored 8 from his last 32 balls.
63rd over: India 253-3 (Gill 82, Pant 12) Stokes, into his seventh over, bowls a rare poor ball that is touched off the hip for four by Gill. He’s 18 runs away from you-know-what.
All five of Gill’s Test centuries have been scored in Asia so it’ll be a cracking story if he changes that narrative on his first day as Indian captain.
62nd over: India 247-3 (Gill 78, Pant 11) Bashir tries his luck around the wicket to the right-handed Gill, an angle of attack that has often served Nathan Lyon well. After a few sighters, Gill surprises everyone by swiping a brusque boundary over midwicket. Shot! That’s his first boundary in 10 overs.
61st over: India 243-3 (Gill 74, Pant 11) One more over (and the rest) for Stokes, who draws Gill forward with a good delivery that zips through to Smith. Gill might have been hiding his bat, I’m not sure it was a genuine play-and-miss.
One from the over, the sixth of this spell. Careful now, Ben.
60th over: India 242-3 (Gill 73, Pant 11) Bashir starts to straighten his line to Pant, who defends one delivery and then knocks a single behind square on the leg side.
India are happy to stockpile singles for the time being, usually two or three an over.
59th over: India 239-3 (Gill 71, Pant 10) Pant offers no stroke to a big inswinger from Stokes that bounces just over the stumps. It was a safe leave on length but a lovely delivery. There’s more swing later in the over, and Chris Woakes is starting to get loose. This might be a chance for England.
Stokes puts his hands to his head when Gill gets a thick inside edge off middle stump. It’s been such a good spell from Stokes: 5-0-15-1 as I type.
58th over: India 236-3 (Gill 69, Pant 9) Shoaib Bashir continues to tease Rishabh Pant by tossing the ball up, and Pant continues to shoulder arms at anything that isn’t straight. At some stage the urge to yahoo one into the crowd will kick in, but for now Pant is a model of restraint.
“Re: 54th over,” says Richard O’Hagan. “I remember the good old days, when the OBO readers just used to stalk one another rather than the commentators. Now we’re all scattered around the country – and in some cases the globe. Actually, maybe that is why people now stalk the commentators.”
News to me.
57th over: India 234-3 (Gill 68, Pant 8) Stokes almost dupes Pant with an extravagant, loopy slower ball, not unlike the Merv Hughes classic to Chris Broad on this ground in 1989. Pant did well to spot the flight of the ball and crouch to keep it out.
Pant evades a zingy, well-directed bouncer later in the over. This is excellent from Stokes, who is in make-things-happen mode. But England will have to be careful he doesn’t overdo it; that was the fourth over of this spell and his tenth of the day.
56th over: India 231-3 (Gill 67, Pant 6) Brook saves runs, probably four, with a diving stop in the covers when Gill slaps Bashir inside out. He’s two-thirds of the way to becoming the fifth Indian batsman to make a century on their captaincy debut. I’d need to check but I think the five are Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Virat Kohli.
55th over: India 229-3 (Gill 65, Pant 6) Stokes is bowling an excellent length, just full of good. For all the understandable talk about the centurions, Stokes’ performance with the ball was the big plus for England when they played Zimbabwe. He hasn’t looked this sharp since the summer of 2022.
Three singles from the over.
54th over: India 226-3 (Gill 64, Pant 5) Bashir tosses up three tempters to Pant, all of which ignores. One doesn’t miss off stump by that much but it was ultimately a safe leave.
“Think I’ve just walked past Simon Burnton on the Headingley concourse and wish I’d said hi,” says Ed Bannister. “Hopefully he’ll see this instead! If I see James Wallace I’ll try and talk to him about The National and Graham Thorpe.”
53rd over: India 226-3 (Gill 63, Pant 5) Laughable cricket from Rishabh Pant, who charges his second ball and smears it back over Stokes’ head for four. Stokes bursts out laughing at the audacity and says something to Pant. I’m 99.94 per cent it was a friendly chat. But in 2025, who knows anything.
Ben Stokes has bowled Yashasvi Jaiswal with a beauty. It was angled in from round the wicket and straightened sharply to rattle the off stump as Jaiswal pushed down the wrong line. Yeah, that’s a serious delivery.
Jaiswal receives a fine hand on his way off, and quite right too: he made a sparkling 101 from 159 balls, with 14 fours and a six. Dukes ball my derriere.
WICKET! India 221-3 (Jaiswal b Stokes 101)
If you want a thing done well…
52nd over: India 221-2 (Jaiswal 101, Gill 63) A wide delivery from Bashir is cut easily for four by Gill. For now India are happy to wait for the bad ball, but they will surely go after Bashir at some stage. This will be a long session, two and a half hours, and England could be entering a world of pain.
“From about 11:27 onwards I’ve been thinking of Headingley 89,” writes Steve Pye. “I don’t like thinking about Headingley 89. Also, on days like this, I do wonder how edgy Nass must be in the Sky commentary box, sitting there and pondering how long it will be before the banter begins.”
It’s interesting that Nasser’s decision at Brisbane is cited quite so often. Australia’s 492 in that first innings is only the 65th highest score in a Test by a team who were put into bat. And it might be 66th by tomorrow night.
The players are ready to resume. Shoaib Bashir will continue to Shubman Gill with a slip and leg slip.
Teatime emails
Taha Hashim “You’re not alone – I’ve spent this entire innings thinking about Ollie Robinson.”
Krishnamoorthy V “I do not mind any number of centuries so long as there is an even contest and a result in each of the Test matches. Not 940/7 dec vs 850 all out kind of games.”
Amitabh “England vs India: where every toss feels like a win, every session feels like a twist, and Jaiswal’s century feels like the future arriving in style.”
Teatime reading
Tea
A near perfect session for India, who scored 118 at 4.63 per over without losing a wicket. Yashasvi Jaiswal made a thrilling fifth Test hundred – the bad news for England is that the first four were all daddies – while the new captain Shubman Gill was at his graceful best in reaching 58 not out.
England don’t do rain-unaffected draws, which means the upcoming evening session is a biggie. They need at least three wickets, and if eight come along by 5pm then that’s just tickedyboo.
51st over: India 215-2 (Jaiswal 100, Gill 58) Ben Stokes brings himself on just before tea. He knows England have been here before – New Zealand were 405/4 at Trent Bridge in 2022 and lost – but he’ll also know they have been loose with the ball.
When it rains, it pours. Jaiswal feels for a good delivery and edges it on the bounce to slip, where the diving Brook seems to make a good partial stop… only for the ball to roll into the helmet sitting behind Jamie Smith. That means five bonus runs to India. The batters ran a single but they hadn’t crossed before it hit the helmet.
A good over from Stokes ends with another soft-handed edge well short of second slip. That’s tea.
“Forget Nasser at Brisbane,” says Richard O’Hagan. “This is Ponting at Edgbaston territory, having a bowl on a flat track when your best quick is out injured.”
Ollie Robinson’s injured?
50th over: India 209-2 (Jaiswal 100, Gill 57) A maiden from Bashir to Jaiswal. That’s already Jaiswal’s third Test hundred against England, the same as Keith Miller, Rishabh Pant, Vijay Manjrekar, Kim Hughes, Kumar Sangakkara, David Warner, Everton Weekes…
Oh, and Jaiswal turned the first two centuries into doubles.
Jaiswal reaches a marvellous century!
49th over: India 209-2 (Jaiswal 100, Gill 57) England have two slips and a leg slip for Jaiswal. Carse switches round the wicket… and he shouldn’t have bothered. He can’t find the right line and Jaiswal hits him for successive boundaries through point and extra cover.
That takes him to 99, and he dabs a quick single off the next ball to reach a fabulous hundred! He roars with delight, punches the air and to hell with any pain. He has scored a century in his first Test in England, just as he did in Australia in the winter. He’s one of the best young openers we’ve seen in decades.
Oh, the numbers: 144 balls, 16 fours, one six.
48.2 overs: India 200-2 (Jaiswal 91, Gill 57) Carse starts his over with a rank bad ball that Jaiswal cuts for four. That brings up India’s 200 and moves Jaiswal into the nineties. But he is really struggling and I’m not he’ll make it to tea, which is still 15 minutes away. The physio is coming on again.
“Any chance of England finding some bowling down the back of the sofa?” writes Ed Wilson. “I’ve somehow blagged tickets for Lord’s AND Old Trafford – not sure the wife has realised yet – it would be nice to see something other than Indian centuries…”
There’s a decent chance you’ll see Jofra. And some Indian centuries!
48th over: India 196-2 (Jaiswal 87, Gill 57) Jaiswal continues but he’s wringing his hand between deliveries. Bashir should try a couple of moon balls, the equivalent of a football team peppering an injured goalkeeper. Or just give him a single and let Carse do his worst at the other end.
Bashir ends another good over with a big-spinning delivery that Gill leaves. Given the context, individual and collective, I think he’s started really well.
“On the subject of drinks bottles, let’s all hope that the charming marketing wonks at Ryanair never get their mitts on a cricket ground sponsorship deal,” says Jeremy Boyce. “Imagine that: NO drinks allowed to be brought in (only overpriced stuff available in the ground), pay extra to bring your backpack in, limit on backpack size, pay extra to reserve a seat where you actually want to sit, pay extra to gain early entry….”
Not been to a Blast game lately?
“If Roses Match naming rights are allowed to transcend cricket, how about the Bleasdale/Bennett?” writes Anthony Baxter. “The teams could compete for the Shavings, a vintage pencil sharpener reputed to be full of charred pencil swarf.”
