IND vs ENG: Shubman Gill starts with a loss on captaincy debut as India pay price for sloppy fielding at Headingley

India paid heavy price for their sloppy fielding as Shubman Gill started with a loss in the first Test against England on his captaincy debut on Tuesday at the Headingley in Leeds. Following the retirement of Rohit Sharma last month, Gill was named the new Indian Test captain.

Chasing 371 runs to win and 350 on the final day, England rode a fine 149 from Ben Duckett and half centuries from Zak Crawley (65) and Joe Root (53 not out) to romp home with five wickets in hand. The 188-run opening wicket stand between Duckett and Crawley laid the foundation for England to take a 1-0 lead in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

It was also Gautam Gambhir's seventh loss in 11 Tests as a head coach. India's wins under Gambhir came against Bangladesh (two matches) and Australia (one) last year. Jamie Smith (44 not out) hit the winning runs as England record their second highest successful run chase in Tests.

India were themselves to blame. For most past of the match, India dominated England with as many as five hundreds, including two from Rishabh Pant, but dropping as many as seven catches sinked the visiting ship with Yashasvi Jaiswal involved in four of them.

Although Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur got two wickets each in the England second innings, Jasprit Bumrah's wicketless spell also contributed to India's defeat. It still entertained all five days, only the third test in history in which all four innings were 350 runs or more. England scored 465 and 373/5 against India’s 471 and 364.

India also became the first team in the history of Test cricket to end up losing despite scoring five hundreds in the game. Previously Australia lost a Test match at Melbourne Cricket Ground after making four hundreds during the 1928-29 Ashes. It was in the same match Sir Don Bradman made his maiden Test century.

Shubman Gill admits dropped catches cost India

After the game, India captain Gill admitted that the dropped catches and lower-order collapses also cost them. "I think it was a brilliant Test match. We had our chances, we dropped catches and our lower-order didn't contribute enough, but proud of the team and overall a good effort. Yesterday we were thinking around 430 odd and declare.

“Unfortunately we didn't score runs at the end which always makes it difficult. Just didn't go our way in this match,” added Gill.