India lost the first Test match against England at Headingley in Leeds, and captain Shubman Gill blamed poor fielding and batting collapses for the defeat. Gill claims that England was given a target of 430 by the visitors. Additionally, he acknowledged that India missed far too many field catches.
On Tuesday, June 24, England defeated India at first Test in Leeds by five wickets. The hosts had a target of 371 and they reached it in 82 overs with opener Ben Duckett score 149, whilst Zak Crawley and Joe Root scored vital half-centuries. In the case of India, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur picked up two wickets each whereas neither Jasprit Bumrah nor Mohammed Siraj could pick up a wicket.
Shubman Gill admits India fell short of target after 1st Test defeat in Leeds acknowledged during the post-match presentation ceremony that India had opportunities during the game but did not take full use of them. According to the Times of India, he stated:
“A brilliant Test, we had our chances. Dropped catches, lower order not contributing cost us. Yesterday, we were thinking of giving them 430, but our last wickets fell for 25. Even today, I thought we had our chances after the brilliant first wicket. Didn’t go to hand. We spoke about the first-innings collapse. Happens, but we have to rectify that going forward.”
Shubman Gill
Take a bow. What an innings. Ben Duckett. 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/QnTIVmmlMl
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 24, 2025India fell from 430-3 to 471 all-out after taking seven wickets for 41 runs in the first innings. In the second essay, they fell from 333-4 to 364 all-out after losing six wickets for 31 runs.
In the Leeds Test, the visitors missed several catches, and one of the main offenders was Yashasvi Jaiswal. On Day 5, the Indian opener missed a catch of Duckett at a critical moment. Gill said:
“Chances don’t come easy on wickets like this, but we have a young, learning team.”
Shubman Gill
Joe Root's default setting. pic.twitter.com/i6jF9kOnKC
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 24, 2025Jasprit Bumrah also failed to grasp on to a difficult return catch in his follow through before Jaiswal dropped Duckett. In Leeds, India lost up to six catches during England’s opening innings.
“Hard to stop runs once the ball gets old” – Shubman Gill
India performed fairly well to keep things close even though they did not take any wickets in the opening session of play on Day 5. But England’s batters scored runs with ease in the second and third sessions. However, the Indian captain stood up for their bowlers, saying:
“First session, we bowled spot-on. Didn’t give away runs, but it’s hard to stop runs once the ball gets old. Have to keep taking wickets then. Jadeja bowled brilliantly, created chances.”
The second Test of the five-match series between India and England will take place at Edgbaston in Birmingham from July 2 to July 6.
