England beat India by five wickets in the first Test at Headingley after a superb 149 from opener Ben Duckett helped make light of a seemingly stiff chase of 371.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Below AFP Sport looks at three aspects of a gripping encounter that ended with England 1-0 up in five-match series:<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Tail-end runs and wickets matter<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n India became the first side in the more than 60,000 game history of first-class cricket to score five individual hundreds in a match and still lose. This remarkable feat can be explained by collapses of 7-41 and 6-31 at the end of each innings<\/p>\r\n\r\n England fast bowler Josh Tongue, who removed several tailenders while taking seven wickets during the match said:. "I don't mind bowling at the tail. You've got a good opportunity to take wickets. All I tried to do was to hit the pitch hard."<\/p>\r\n\r\n Pant a modern marvel<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n Rishabh Pant could yet end his career having surpassed Australia's outstanding Adam Gilchrist as the most extraordinary wicketkeeper-batsman cricket has known.<\/p>\r\n\r\n His astounding audacity with the bat was on full display in Leeds as he became only the second wicketkeeper, after Zimbabwe's Andy Flower, to score hundreds in both innings of a Test match with 134 and then 118.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Some of Pant's shot-making, including over the shoulder flicks, at fast bowlers has to be seen to believed, with his continued involvement in cricket a triumph after he suffered life-threatening injuries in a horrific car crash in December 2022 that kept him out of action for 15 months.<\/p>\r\n\r\n KL Rahul, who made a relatively restrained 137 while Pant blazed away during the pair's fourth-wicket second-innings stand of 195, summed up the India vice-captain by saying: "I've had a few partnerships with Pant.<\/p>\r\n\r\n "It's hard for us to understand his mindset. You've got to let Rishabh Pant be Rishabh Pant, there's obviously a method to his madness!<\/p>\r\n\r\n "He's averaging (around) 45 in Test cricket, there's a lot of thinking behind the outrageous shots he plays."<\/p>\r\n\r\n Headingley delivers again<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n This match joined a long list of dramatic Test encounters at Headingley, the headquarters of Yorkshire, one of the cornerstone counties of English cricket.<\/p>\r\n\r\n There was the original 'Headingley miracle' of 1981, when Ian Botham scored a barnstorming 149 not out and fast bowler Bob Willis took 8-43 as England won after following on against Australia.<\/p>\r\n\r\n There was the 2019 version, where current England captain Ben Stokes steered his side to a stunning one-wicket win over arch-rivals Australia with a remarkable unbeaten hundred.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Headingley also staged a two-day Test in 2000 when fast bowler Andrew Caddick led Nasser Hussain's England to victory over West Indies.<\/p>\r\n\r\n