A team that scores less runs with the bat, wins. Bowlers wield bats to fight a great battle of attrition – and almost pull off an unlikely victory. A batter runs himself out trying to help his partner score a ton. A captain, for the umpteenth time, carries his team on his shoulder and bowls his heart out against medical advice. A Test match that ends with a ball hitting the middle of a stoically defensive bat, rolling on to the stumps, ensuring that luck, in the end, beats pluck. Eng v Ind 2025
Let’s ignore the fact that India scored more runs with the bat. Let’s overlook the fact that 11 of 20 England batters were bowled. Let’s forget the result. Let’s just celebrate an epic. For that’s what we just witnessed at Lord’s.
Energy over experience
When a young Indian team set off for the British Isles for a 5-Test series a few weeks ago, it was with muted expectations. The mantle of captaincy had descended on the young shoulders of 25-year-old Shubman Gill, a batter struggling with a sub-40 average under the weight of a mountain of expectations, saddled with self-doubt, and unsure of his place in the team.
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Rohit Sharma had all but been forced out of captaincy, and the team. Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket with days to go for team selection. And with the duo, at one stroke, went 190 Test matches of invaluable experience. Suddenly the 230 Tests between KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant was double the combined experience of the rest of the squad. Polls went up across social media platforms on the series result, and 4-1 England emerged as the broad consensus. Lambs to the slaughter, sighed the fans. Eng v Ind 2025
While it is true that appointing Gill as captain had been a Hobson’s choice for the selectors, the hope was that much as it had done for Virat Kohli, captaincy would bring out the best in Gill the batter. Three Tests into the five-Test series, Gill has piled up 607 runs at an average over 100. This is not just the most by an Indian captain in England, but the most runs scored by an Indian batter in England, going past Rahul Dravid’s 602 runs in the 2002 series. With two Tests to go, the most runs scored by an Indian batter in a single away series, Virat Kohli’s 692 in Australia (2014-15) and Sunil Gavaskar’s 774 in the West Indies (1971) are very much in sight.
Falling short, shining bright
The story of this tour, however, is not just Shubman Gill. Despite what a 1-2 scoreline going into the last two Tests would suggest, the young Indian team has outplayed England in every department.
India has scored 2295 runs at an average per wicket of 40.98 to England’s 1945 runs at 35.36. Indian batters have scored 8 centuries against England’s 5. Both teams have taken 55 wickets across 3 Tests but India has done so at an average of 36.05 versus England’s 42.60. And in the process Indian bowlers have taken four 5-wicket hauls. No English bowler has thus far managed one.
So why are India behind in the series? Eng v Ind 2025
Put simply, experience has triumphed over talent – with England winning the key moments.
Never was this clearer than at Lord’s, a great Test fightback that fell just short for the visitors.
England was dismissed for 387. Despite building partnerships and cruising along towards a significant lead, India let things slip. Rishabh Pant’s suicidal run to get Rahul a century before the break broke the momentum of the innings. Rahul scored his ton and immediately lost concentration. Despite Jadeja’s best efforts India collapsed to tie England’s score.
Incredible fight but it wasn’t to be. True, England bowled magnificently but this is what sport is about; using the power of determination to overcome the shortage of ability. Bumrah and Siraj were magnificent, admirable and Jadeja has always been a tough cricketer.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 14, 2025
The bowlers performed admirably to set up a very achievable 193 run chase in the final innings. But it would all go downhill from there. The inexperience of the Indian top order manifested itself in a bizarre self-inflicted collapse, with Jaiswal, Nair and Gill himself throwing their wickets away. It was left once again to Jadeja and the tailenders to inch towards an Indian victory that had seemed all but a shattered dream when Rahul was dismissed. And then with 22-runs to get, the valiantly defiant Siraj watched a ball hit the middle of his defensive bat and against all odds, roll on to the stumps.
The next surprise package?
The final result notwithstanding, this is turning out to be a transformational series for Indian cricket, and one that gives immense hope for the future of the format in India. By the time this series ends, the 1-4 predictions could well play out. But it is equally likely that this talented but inexperienced Indian side, if they continue to play with immense pride and resilience, could well be heading towards delivering a pleasant surprise to its fans.
But to achieve that, Gill must lead with maturity, ensure his team seizes the key moments, and know when to invoke the inner Kohli in himself. Being a worthy successor at No.4 and emulating Kohli’s record as captain – he needs to understand – is about targeted, not mindless aggression, and about thinking strategically about winning. That is what will win him and his team the key moments from here. And perhaps the series. Eng v Ind 2025
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