Shubman Gill endured a tough baptism in his first Test as captain as India suffered a five wicket loss against England in Leeds on Tuesday, June 24, 2025.
India looked the dominant side in the first couple of days before England staged a stunning comeback, chasing a huge 371 for victory -- their second highest successful run chase in Test cricket.
The Indians have only themselves to blame with as many as six catches being put down, while the bowling attack, apart from Jasprit Bumrah, looked totally pedestrian and was easily taken apart by England.
This was India's seventh defeat in their last nine matches as their poor run in Test cricket continues following successive series defeats against New Zealand at home and in Australia.
Here's a look at the six key reasons why India lost the Leeds Test:
Over reliance on Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah's 'Handle With Care' tag has left India in a big dilemma.
Given his regular injury status in recent years, Bumrah has to be handled with care but given the lacklustre showing of the other bowlers in Leeds, he has been forced to shoulder the extra burden.
The huge gulf between Bumrah and the rest of the pacers was evident in the first match.
Bumrah registered match figures of 5/140 from 43.4 overs at an economy rate of 3.20 -- despite England scoring at above 4.5 per over in both innings.
The other three seamers --- Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna -- struggled as they registered combined figures of 9/482 from 92 overs, conceding runs at nearly 5.2 per over which proved to be a big factor especially on the final day when England scored more than 350 runs.
Prasidh, who played his fourth Test, is still in the learning phase while the experienced Siraj is yet to deliver with the ball and take the pressure off Bumrah.
Siraj has now gone 14 Tests without a five-wicket haul -- having last taken 6/15 against South Africa in Cape Town in January 2024.
It is scary to think how India's bowling will fare if Bumrah is rested for a couple of Tests as per the original plan of the team management.
Dropped Catches
'Catches win matches' is a saying which never grows old in cricket as a shabby India discovered at Headingley.
India put down a total of eight catches -- six of them in the first innings alone.
No team has dropped more catches in a Test match in England in the last 20 years. The missed chances on the field cost India over 200 runs.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a century in the first innings, put down four chances in the field -- the joint-most by an Indian player in a Test. Not only did he put down catches while standing close in like gully or in the slips but he also shelled a running catch while rushing in from deep square leg.
Ravindra Jadeja put down Ben Duckett on 15, who then made most of the reprieve to stroke 62 in the first innings. He was earlier dropped by Jaiswal on 11 off Bumrah in the fifth over at gully, when he dived to his right but failed to hold onto a sharp catch.
Jaiswal also dropped England's No. 3 Ollie Pope when he was on 60. Pope went on to score 106 to lead England's charge on the second day.
He also put down Duckett in the second innings on 97 before he went on to stroke a decisive 149 to power England's run chase.
The biggest beneficiary was Harry Brook was caught off a no-ball bowled by Jasprit Bumrah even before he had opened his account. Wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant missed an edge off Jadeja's bowling when Brook was on 46 and he got another lifeline on 82 when Jaiswal grassed a straightforward chance at gully.
Lower Order Collapses
India got an unwanted record to their name as they became the first team to lose a Test despite five centuries from their batters.
Apart from the five hundreds, India also had six ducks in the two innings.
India's lower order caved in tamely in both innings which proved decisive in the final outcome.
In the first innings, India looked on course for a huge total -- on 430/3 before they suffered a shocking meltdown, losing their last seven wickets for 41 runs to be bowled out for 471.
On the other hand, England's lower order dragged them from 398/7 to 465, with the last three wickets adding 67 runs as Chris Woakes (38), Brydon Carse (22) and Josh Tongue (11) all made important contributions.
In the second essay too, India's lower order batters surrendered cheaply. Siraj, Bumrah and Krishna -- all fell for ducks -- as India lost their last six wickets for 32 runs as they stumbled from 333/5 to 364 all out in around 11 overs.
The 40 to 50 runs India's lower order missed out proved crucial as England managed to easily chase down 371 on the final day.
The lack of a quality seam bowling all-rounder is clearly hurting India in conditions like England. Shardul Thakur, played as the all-rounder ahead of Nitish Reddy, scored just five runs in both innings while picking up two wickets.
Inexperienced captain
Shubman Gill was handed the India captaincy after the shock retirements of seniors Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli last month.
While he excelled with the bat with a century on his captaincy debut, he showed he still has a lot to learn when it comes to marshalling troops on the field.
One of his baffling decisions was not to give the second new ball to Bumrah when England needed 21 runs for victory. Siraj started with the new ball after 80 overs while Ravindra Jadeja bowled from the other end, which clearly indicated that India had thrown in the towel too early.
A wicket or two for Bumrah with the new ball could have got India back in the contest and they may still have had their chances if they managed to put the lower order under pressure.
Bumrah had adequate rest at that point, having bowled a three over spell -- the 61st, 63rd and 65th overs and it was a no-brainer that he had to take the second new ball as it would have been India's last hope.
Jamie Smith took Jadeja to the cleaners -- hitting the spinner for two sixes and a four to finish off the game in style.
Captain Gill's explanation at the end that it was a tactical decision and that Bumrah was completely fit further puzzled everyone.
'They were 15 or 20 runs left, so we just wanted to give it to some other bowlers, but he is definitely fit,' he told the BBC.
Gill's defensive approach on the field also came in for criticism. He was happy to spread the field and give away the singles even when the new batters walked out to bat. Even after the dismissals of Ben Duckett and Harry Brook, India were not able to build pressure as Joe Root and Ben Stokes were able to get easy singles.
'I thought he followed the ball a lot. I thought he was reactive as opposed to proactive,' one of England's greatest captains Nasser Hussain stated.
Sudharsan, Karun's failures
Sai Sudharsan came in with a big reputation but failed to live up to it as he managed just 0 and 30 on a wicket which didn't have much for the bowlers. In fact, the match aggregate of 1,673 runs is the highest in a Test match between India and England.
His dismissal in both innings indicate that England might have identified a chink in his technique as they bowled on the leg stump line to him for most part.
Ben Stokes got his wicket twice in the match and both times he was caught playing off his pads. In the first innings, he was caught by wicket-keeper Smith down the leg side as he edged trying to play the glance.
In the next innings, he flicked a full delivery straight to the fielder at midwicket.
Batting Coach Sitanshu Kotak certainly needs to have a session with the youngster and tighten up his leg side play as India will want more runs from the crucial No. 3 position.
Karun Nair also didn't make an impact in his first Test match in eight years as he also fell for a duck in the first innings, while scoring just 20 in the next. At this stage of his career, Karun needs to make the most of every opportunity or else there would be no chance for another comeback.
Jadeja's struggles
India have always preferred to play Ravindra Jadeja as the lone spinner overseas, not only for his tight bowling but for his batting presence in the lower order. He even managed to edge out Ravichandran Ashwin overseas even though the off spinner was much a better spinner.
However, Jadeja's poor record away from home is quite startling. While he has taken 238 wickets in 49 home Tests, he managed just 81 wickets in 30 Tests away from home at an average of 35.58.
His record in England is poor -- 28 wickets in 13 Tests at an average of 48.07.
The 36-year-old spinner was preferred ahead of Kuldeep Yadav, whom many believe is the best bet for wickets with the old ball irrespective of the conditions.
While Jadeja went wicketless in the first innings in which he conceded 68 runs from 23 overs, he was taken apart by England in the second.
Despite having acres of rough outside the line of the leg stump to the left-handers, he suffered at the hands of Ben Duckett, who reverse swept him at will for regular boundaries. In fact, Duckett swept Jadeja out of the attack as he scored 31 runs using the reverse sweep -- the second most by a batter in a Test innings.
Jadeja finally found his range against Ben Stokes, who struggled to pull of the reverse sweeps off the ball jumping out of the rough.
Jadeja's control was definitely missing in the second innings when India were looking towards him to hold one end up while the pacers attacked from the other. He was carted for 104 runs in his 24 overs, while picking up just one wicket.
India will have to rethink their combination in the second Test and definitely think about including Kuldeep or Washington Sundar incase they want a spin all-rounder.
© 2025