 "India face prospect of unwanted record with England firmly in control on Day 5 of Headingley Test")
India face the prospect of achieving an unwanted first after England raced to 117/0 at lunch on Day 5 of the first Test in Leeds after being set a challenging 371 to win. No team in the history of Test cricket, after all, has lost a game after their batters scored five or more centuries.
Australia currently holds the record for the most centuries in a losing cause in a Test, with their batters having scored four centuries in their three-wicket defeat at the hands of the ‘Old Enemy’ England in Melbourne during the 1928-29 Ashes – the legendary Donald Bradman’s debut series. It remains the only instance of a team losing after accounting for four centuries.
Five centuries from four different Indian batters at Headingley
As for the opening match of the five-Test series between India and England at Headingley, Rishabh Pant made history by becoming only the second wicketkeeper-batter in Test history – and the first Indian – to score twin hundreds in a Test.
The 27-year-old headlined India’s batting performance with scores of 134 and 118; captain Shubman Gill (147) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (101) also scored centuries in India’s first innings, in which they posted 471. Senior opener KL Rahul later joined the list of centurions with a fine 137 in the second innings, helping India post 364 and set a target of 371.
India, however, also suffered batting collapses in both innings – losing seven wickets for 41 runs in their first innings on Day 2 and six wickets for just 31 on the penultimate day.
Additionally, a series of dropped chances along with expensive bowling from Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur and even from Mohammed Siraj allowed the Ben Stokes-led Englishmen to post 465, nearly cancelling out India’s first innings total.
It’s not just the Indians who have accounted for centuries in the ongoing Test, with Ollie Pope scoring 106 in the first innings and Harry Brook falling (99) short of the milestone by a solitary run.
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