ENG vs IND | Wasteful India fail to counter Duckett masterclass as England romp home at Headingley

R‌esuming from an overnight score of 21/0, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawely were up against the wall at the start of Day 5 with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj delivering probing spells with the relatively new Dukes. However, they failed to extract any significant swing with overcast skies looming, and the tables soon turned. As soon as Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur walked into the attack towards the end of the first hour of play, Duckett switched gears to make the boundaries flow and bring up a 66-ball half-century. Crawley was content with the occassional four coming his way as he kept rotating strike and before long the duo had stretched their stand to 117/0 when Lunch was called.

The duo showed no signs of stopping post the break with another Bumrah spell going unrewarded. Crawley brought up his own fifty in 111 deliveries even as his partner rushed towards the magical three-figure mark and when India did finally manage to create a chance, Yashasvi Jaiswal dropped his fourth catch of the match to hand Duckett a reprieve at 97. The southpaw needed no second invitation as he brought up a resounding ton and pushed the scoring rate further upwards. A brief rain-interruption brought India a much needed reprieve with the score already 181/0 and the scales firmly in the hosts' favour. Krishna capitalized on the break in momentum to first have Crawley caught at slip for 65 and in his next over rattled Ollie Pope's stumps to bring India back into the contest. Nevertheless, Duckett kept racing along despite the defensive field setups, while Joe Root stood ground at the other end as the two combined for 49 runs in just 47 deliveries. Shubman Gill turned to Shardul Thakur as a last resort, and the all-rounder delivered with aplomb by dispatching Duckett and Harry Brook on consecutive deliveries -- the former lobbing a simply catch to cover while the local boy got a feather while trying to nudge a wayward ball outside leg stump. Another rain-interruption forced early Tea, with the score 269/4 and England 102 runs from victory with six wickets to play with.

Bumrah returned to the action to start the final session, as has been the norm for the Men in Blue throughout the contest, but a fruitless spell against Ben Stokes and Root meant the search for a second innings scalp went on and put England firmly in the driver's seat. Krishna was greeted into the attack with a spanking drive through cover from the rival skipper, followed by an edge through the slip cordon for four more to take the hosts within 72 of victory. However, Jadeja kept the contest alive by having a reverse-sweeping Stokes caught at slip but it did little to dent England's spirit as Jamie Smith kept the chase going without any ado. A second new ball was the final ace up India's sleeve but by the time they got to the 80-over mark, only 22 runs remained with the sun beginning to peek through the dark clouds. Smith ensured there was no late drama as he slammed Jadeja for 16 runs in the 82nd over to seal a record victory.