India vs England 2025- A Test series to remember - Review

 

It has indeed been an entralling 5 test series  between a young Indian team & an experienced England team on english shores . Such a rivetting test series has not happened for several years . It was absolute box office stuff. We had 2 epic test matches at Lords & at the Oval and 3 other magnificent test matches at Leeds , Egbaston  & Manchester . Both teams churned out several outstanding batting peformances and looked distinctly lighter on the bowling front making it a high scoring series that was played on some flat batting decks . 

The young Indian team , who were expected to lose the series after what happened in their preceding 2 test series played with experienced  superstars , started the series on a high note scoring tonnes of runs in both the innings at Leeds with Pant , Gill , Jaiswal & Rahul leading the way . However two significant lower order batting collapses and multiple catch drops enabled England to make a comeback and finally snatch a win with a creditable chase of 371 target in the 4th innings.

However led by the batting prowess of skipper Shubman Gill and some lion hearted bowling from 10 wickets man Akashdeep , India scripted a dominant comeback at Egbaston to thrash England in 2nd test. 

The 3rd test at Lords saw India almost taking control but Rishabh Pant 's naive run out brought England into the game . Under intense pressure in 4th innings India failed to chase down a modest target of 190 despite Jadeja's best efforts with the bat. 

With a 2-1 series lead , England were dominant at Manchester as they threatened to close out the series with an unassailable lead but India fought back valiantly from 0/2 in the 2nd innings with centuries from Gill , Jadeja & Sundar & 90 from Rahul on a pitch of variable bounce.  Thus India escaped with a well earned draw .

With the series 2-1 , India needed to win at the Oval to restore parity but began poorly on a green tinge wicket . However England could not take a sizable 1st inngs and India with resolute batting in the second innings took a 374 run lead . England almost chased down  the target with  Root - Brook scintillating 100s but India scripted a sensational comeback & finally won an epic test match by a barest margin of 6 runs to draw level the series.

From individual standpoint  both England  & India had several good performers specially in batting . For England Joe Root once again led the way with  537 runs and 2 centuries.  The 2nd century almost took England home at the Oval . Root's continues to enthrall with his sublime batting . 

Harry Brook with 481 runs in 5 tests continues to script impactful performances and his 100 at the Oval nearly took England over the ropes . Brook was the man of the series for England. However he needs to add a bit of more resilience in his batting & needs to.learn how to play the situations which can make him more dangerous 

Ben Duckett (462 runs) and his opening partner Zak Crawley (290 runs) had contrasting series . While both had a few scintillating partnerships , Duckett grew in stature with some fine knocks including a sensational 149 in 1st test big chase while Crawley often followed a good knock with a few mediocre ones as he continues to struggle to maintain a just above 30 average in test cricket . Vice captain Ollie Pope (306) had another mediocre series .

Ben Stokes was the heart and soul of this England team. With 304 runs & 17 wickets in the series despite bowling with severe body niggles throughtout the series but never adverse to bowling long spells and often getting big breakthroughs , the England skipper showed insane commitment despite his physical challenges . He was simply England's most impactful bowler in the series driving his fragile body to the limits and came up with a few decent and important scores as a batter though not always at his best with the bat . 

Jamie Smith once again underlined his growing stature as a impactful batter keeper with 434 runs in the series that included an explosive unbeaten  184 in the 2nd test .

England bowling however lacked the bite . Woakes who will be more remembered for his bravado coming out to bat with a broken shoulder at the Oval but his bowling suffered on the flat batting decks as he could garner only 11 wickets in the entire full series at a high average for someone who always thrives in native English conditions . 

Carse showed promise as a bowling all rounder (164 runs)  but 9 wickets in 4 tests is not an impressive return though he bowled a few good spells. Jofra Archer returned to test cricket with 9 wickets in 2 games and looked lethal vs lefties but is still not in a position to play a full series . Atkinson looked impressive in the final test with 8 wickets but Josh Tongue looked promising in this series and improved as the series progressed taking 19 wickets in 3 tests. He has healthy pace and though not impressive in all his spells ..still was able to produce some wicket taking spells. Good prospect provided he adds more consistency . Jamie Overton looked patchy in the only test he played 

India came out with full of exquisite and scintillating batting performances in the series . While KL Rahul (532 runs , 2 centuries ) showed his class, playing like a master technician ...playing with soft hands , close to the body and playing inside the line countering the movement and unleashing his sparkling strokeplay when situation presented itself , his young left handed partner Yashasvi Jaiswal (411 runs at 41 average)  started the series well with a 100 & a 80 but had a bit of a slump midway only to comeback with a well crafted 100 in the final test that ended as a match winning one . At times Jaiswal's choice of shots left a bit to be desired and he was at times troubled by bowlers coming round the wicket and getting seam movements but his willingness to learn and grind while also playing imperious strokes stood him well as he closed out the series with a superb hundred . 

The number 3 spot is the only area of concern for India as neither Sai Sudharsan (140 runs in 3 tests ) nor Karun Nair (205 runs in 4 tests ) could seal it . Nair after his much celebrated comeback to the Indian team failed to seal his spot though he played some good knocks trying to blunt the new ball but could not translate them to big ones .

The Skipper Shubman Gill had an iconic series as a batter scoring 754 runs at 75 average with 4 hundreds- the last being a rescue act at Manchester.  He looked in sublime touch and churned runs at will . A run machine in this series Gill made good strides as a captain though he is still work in progress and had his average moments as Indian captain in this series . The number 4 batting spot which was left vacant after Virat Kohli 's retirement now has an extremely worthy successor and Gill now has set to rest any doubts of him as a batter who had a reputation of struggle in overseas .

Rishabh Pant ( 479 runs in 4 tests ) is the heart of Team India and he was exhilarating and imperious in his strokeplay , reeling off two sparkling 100s in the 1st test and continuing to score runs. His courage in coming out to bat despite a severe foot injury during his 54 at Manchester was a great moment of resilience in the series ,later rivalled by Woakes on the last day of the series . 

The two spin allrounders were excellent with the bat . Jadeja ( 516 runs at 86 average ) with a match saving 100 & 5 fifties was consistent personified with the bat . He had lesser impact with the ball with 7 wickets . Sundar (284 runs at 47 average & 7 wickets) was outstanding with the bat scoring that match saving 100 at Manchester and an  explosive 53 at the Oval that helped a lot in setting a bigger target for England.  His bowling at Lords gave India a chance to chase a modest target . 

The India bowling like England struggled to pick wickets on flat decks but it had their big moments . Siraj was the bowler of the series showing lion hearted resolve despite physical challenges at times. He bowled an astonishing 185 overs in the series, taking huge workload & getting 23 wickets and grew in statute as the series progressed bowled superbly in non Bumah tests . His 9 wickets at the Oval putting up a resilient performance was the bowling performance of the series .

Jasprit Bumrah ( 14 wickets in 3 tests ) had to be carefully handled with regards to his workload management .He bowled very well in the first & 3rd tests but ironically India lost both tests . Bumrah looked a pale shadow at Manchester looking physically done & had to sit out on the best green deck at Oval .

Prasidh Krishna (14 wickets in 3  tests ) copped a lot of criticism for his profligate bowling but stood up when it mattered at the Oval getting a match winning  8 wickets on a pitch that assisted his hit the deck approach . He has pace and ability but need to show more belief . 

Akashdeep (13 wickets in 3 tests )  had a great 2nd test taking 10 wickets and winning the test for India . He struggled in other tests but gained invaluable experience from this series .

Shardul Thakur & Nitish Reddy had ordinary outings as India continues to search for an appropriate pace bowling allrounder. 

The biggest suprise pulled off by India was not to play Kuldeep Yadav in any of the tests considering England's traditional weakness towards wrist spin ...despite that India came out with an honourable draw in the series . 

Thus to summarise....it was a test series to remember , one of the most exhilarating test series in modern era which can be compared to the collection of the  best test series played in the history of cricket .