IND vs ENG: Captain Shubman blamed these players including Pant for the defeat, praised Jadeja and the rest of the bowlers

Posted on 25th Jun 2025 by rohit kumar

India lost to England by five wickets in the first Test played in Leeds. The English team achieved the target of 371 runs by losing five wickets based on Ben Duckett's century and half-centuries from Jack Crowley and Joe Root. After the match, Indian captain Shubman Gill blamed his players for the defeat. At first, Gill praised his players, but as he was asked further questions, he kept counting the mistakes. The Indian captain took the players who dropped catches including Rishabh Pant into account. However, he praised his bowlers. He praised Ravindra Jadeja the most.

 

Criticism of tail-enders

 

In the presentation ceremony after the match, Gill said, 'I think it was a great Test match. We had chances, we dropped catches and our lower order did not contribute enough, but proud of the team and overall a good effort. On the fourth day, we were thinking that we were going to get around 430 and declare the innings. Unfortunately, our last six wickets fell for only 20-25 runs, which is never a good sign. When England got a good opening in the second innings, I still felt we had a chance, but the result of this match did not go in our favor.'

 

'We still got a learning team'

 

India's lower-order batsmen failed in both innings of this match. On this, Gill said, 'This was something we talked about, but when you are in the middle of the match it happens very quickly and there is no time to think or talk. I think this will be one of the things we have to improve in the upcoming matches. Yes, chances do not come easily, especially on such wickets and we dropped some catches, but I think our team is young and we still have a learning team hopefully in the next matches we will be able to improve these aspects.'

 

'Bowled well in the first session'

When asked if he could have done something different? Gill said, 'I don't think so. I think the way we bowled in the first session was quite right. We bowled very well. Didn't give so many runs, but you know that once the ball gets old it is very difficult to stop the runs and you have to keep taking wickets to stay in the game. Unfortunately, the balls that took the edge of the bat either could not reach the fielder or were missed and did not go in our favor. But I think England batted well after the ball got old. They took their chances and their opening partnership took the game away from us.'

 

'Jadeja bowled brilliantly'

 

On Jadeja's bowling on the fifth day, Gill said, 'He bowled brilliantly. I think he created some opportunities for us, some catches were made which Rishabh Pant could not catch. But this happens in any cricket match. You expect that there will be some chances which will not go in your favor.' On Bumrah's availability, Gill said, 'We will see this match by match. You know there is a good break after this Test. So once we are closer to the date of the match we will see what to do.'

 

India lost in the first Test.

 

Taking full advantage of the poor performance of the Indian bowlers and loose fielding, with the help of Ben Duckett's brilliant century, England easily achieved the target of 371 runs and defeated India by five wickets on the fifth day of the first Test on Tuesday. Duckett scored 149 runs in 170 balls with the help of 21 fours and a six, while Jack Crowley played an innings of 65 runs. Both of them had closed all the way for India to come back in the match by making a partnership of 188 runs for the first wicket. After this, Joe Root scored 53 and Jamie Smith scored 44 runs to lead the team to victory. England is now ahead 1-0 in the five-match series. The second Test will be played in Birmingham from July 2.