Thakur gets Duckett and Brook back-to-back, but England only 102 runs away
Duckett scored 149 after Yashasvi Jaiswal dropped him on 97, the latter's third drop of the match
ESPNcricinfo staff
24-Jun-2025 • 5 hrs ago
Shardul Thakur struck back-to-back • Getty Images
Tea England 465 and 269 for 4 (Duckett 149, Crawley 65, Thakur 2-28) need 102 more runs to beat India 471 and 364
Shardul Thakur blew the first Test back open with two wickets in two balls to keep India's hopes alive after Ben Duckett set England on their way to another famous Headingley run chase. Thakur had been a passenger for the first four-and-a-half days of the Test but was thrown the ball by Shubman Gill, and dismissed Duckett and Harry Brook off consecutive deliveries.
Duckett and Zak Crawley added another 71 in quick time after batting through the morning session, with Duckett racing to his hundred - his sixth in Tests, and his first in England's second innings - off 121 balls. He was reprieved on 97 by Yashasvi Jaiswal, who dropped his third catch of the match - this time on the square-leg boundary - as Duckett punched the air on reaching three figures.
After a brief interruption for rain, Crawley pulled Prasidh Krishna through wide mid-on for four but fell to his next ball, edging to slip for 65. England's first-innings centurion Ollie Pope followed soon after, chopping Prasidh on to his own stumps, but Duckett continued to cruise; his most outrageous shot was a reverse slap for six over cover off Ravindra Jadeja.
But Thakur's reintroduction gave India a foothold, as he struck with two innocuous balls. Duckett slapped the first, a wide half volley, straight to substitute fielder Nitish Kumar Reddy at extra cover; Harry Brook strangled the second, a freebie angling a long way past leg stump, through to Rishabh Pant behind the stumps, becoming only the fifth man out for 99 and 0 in the same Test.
Ben Stokes started scratchily against Jadeja, missing a pair of reverse sweeps - the first of which Shubman Gill unsuccessfully reviewed for a catch at short leg, only for replays to confirm the ball had hit him on the biceps. Stokes and Joe Root will resume with 102 more runs required after the tea interval, which arrived early due to another rain shower.