IND vs ENG: Crawley, Duckett stitch record ton partnership in 4th innings to put India on backfoot at Headingley

England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett gave their team a solid base with a century partnership for the first wicket on day of 5 (Jun 24) of the first Test against India at Headingley in Leeds. This in only the fourth time that a hundred partnership has been stitched for the opening wicket at the venue and England openers have made it a best one. The previous record was with Verdun Scott and Bert Sutcliffe of New Zealand who had added 112 runs for the first wicket in 1949. By lunch on day 5, Crawley and Duckett had added 117 runs - the highest fourth innings partnership against India in Leeds. The partnership was eventually broken after 188 runs were added for the first wicket.

Also Read - IND vs ENG: Pant equals Tendulkar's HISTORIC feat with twin tons in Headingley Test

England started the day from overnight score of 21/0 in chase of 371. The overcast conditions were supposed to benefit the Indian bowlers but the English batters put them at bay with ease. By lunch, Duckett had crossed his fifty - second of the match - while Crawley was batting at 42.

The Test match has been mostly in India's favour for the previous four days when they broke multiple batting records despite being an underdog without Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma - both of whom retired.

In the two innings, India recorded five hundreds - one each from Jaiswal, Rahul, Gill and two from Pant - the first ever instance for them. Pant also became the first wicketkeeper-batter since 2001 and only second overall to score two tons in a Test.

Jaiswal and Gill became the first Indian opening pair to score a ton (in any innings) in same Test since Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali in 1936 Manchester Test.

Among bowlers, Bumrah surpassed Pak great Wasim Akram (146) to record most wickets in SENA countries by an Asian bowler.