India Become First Team to Lose Test After Scoring Five Centuries in Historic Defeat to England

In a stunning twist of Test cricket history, India became the first team ever to lose a match despite scoring five individual centuries, falling to England by five wickets in the opening Test at Headingley. The result not only handed England a 1-0 lead in the five-match series but also placed India at the centre of a record-breaking defeat.

India posted an impressive 835 runs across both innings — one of the highest totals ever amassed by a losing side in Test cricket. The innings featured centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal (101), Shubman Gill (147), and Rishabh Pant (134) in the first innings, followed by KL Rahul (137) and another masterful hundred by Pant (118) in the second. Despite this batting brilliance, India failed to defend a 371-run target on the final day.

The match now stands as the only instance in Test history where a team scoring five hundreds has ended up on the losing side. Previously, the record for most hundreds in a defeat was four — held by Australia in their 1928 Test against England at the MCG.

The defeat also marked another grim milestone for India: they now hold the record for the most individual centuries in a losing Test match. Furthermore, the 1673 total runs scored by both teams in this Headingley clash is the highest ever in a Test between India and England, surpassing the 1614-run match at Manchester in 1990, which ended in a draw.

England’s chase on Day 5 was clinical. Starting at 21/0 and needing 350 runs on the final day, the hosts executed one of the most efficient fourth-innings pursuits in recent memory. Ben Duckett’s sublime 149 anchored the innings, supported by Zak Crawley, Joe Root (53*), and Jamie Smith (44*), as England sealed victory in just 82 overs, finishing at 373/5.

Duckett was named Player of the Match for his defining innings that turned the game on its head and set the tone for what promises to be an enthralling Test series.

Brief scores:

• India 471 & 364 (KL Rahul 137, Rishabh Pant 118; Josh Tongue 3/72)
• England 373/5 (Ben Duckett 149, Zak Crawley 65; Shardul Thakur 2/51).