England opener Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley have given the home side a flying start in their chase of 371-run target against Team India on Day 5 of 1st Test at Headingley.
Ben Stokes-led England cricket team have made another sensational start in their fourth innings run-chase against India in the first Test of the five-match series at the Headingley in Leeds. Needing 371 for win on the final day, England openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley have raced to 117 for no wicket at lunch on Day 5.
Duckett and Crawley put on 96 runs without losing a wicket in the opening session of the final day. If they managed to chase down this massive target against all odds on Tuesday, it will be their second-highest run-chase in Test cricket after they hunted down 378 against Jasprit Bumrah-led Indian side at Edgbaston in Birmingham in 2022.
At Headingley, England’s highest successful chase came in the Ashes series in 2019 when a sensational century by Stokes led them to a one-wicket win while chase 359 to win. The Englishmen also hunted down 315 to win at Headingley in the Ashes series of 2001 against Australia.
England’s highest successful run-chases in Test cricket…
| Opposition | Win Margin | Target | Venue | Year |
| India | 7 wickets | 378 | Edgbaston | 2022 |
| Australia | 1 wicket | 359 | Headingley | 2019 |
| Australia | 3 wickets | 332 | Melbourne | 1928 |
| Australia | 6 wickets | 315 | Headingley | 2001 |
| New Zealand | 4 wickets | 305 | Christchurch | 1997 |
India’s star pacer Jasprit Bumrah almost failed to produce any error from either of the two England openers. Bumrah, who claimed five wickets in the first innings, beat Duckett’s edge twice and Mohammed Siraj beat Crawley twice in impressive opening spells but they failed to produced the breakthrough for Shubman Gill’s side..
England batters once again pounced on India’s second string bowlers in Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur. Bumrah returned before lunch and dropped a difficult caught-and-bowled opportunity off Crawley on 42.
Team India believed they had Crawley leg-before on 21 but the ball was going down the leg side and the review was burned by Gill.
Duckett brought up his 20th fifty-plus score in his 34th Test. He was 64 off 89 balls, building on his 62 that he notched up in the first innings. Duckett and Crawley’s latest century stand helped them pass 2,000 runs and made them England’s most successful opening partnership since Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss, who had last opened together 13 years ago.
Earlier, Team India had lost six wickets for 34 runs as they collapsed from 330 for 4 at one stage in their second innings in Lord’s Test to be bowled out for 364 runs on Day 4 on Monday.
