Courtesy: RevSportz/Subhayan Chakraborty
With the opening Test between England and India in Leeds only a couple of days away, players were seen gearing up for the contest in a practice session on June 18. India, who failed to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final 2025, will look to kick off the new tournament cycle from 2025 to 2027 under Shubman Gill confidently with a win against Ben Stokes and his men at Headingley. Gill, with his leadership, will look to quench India’s thirst for a Test series win on English soil. The two-time World Test Championship runners-up won their last Test competition in England under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy in 2007.
Hours ahead of the big game, Team India players were seen participating in a practice session, in which some players can be seen hilariously arguing with the fielding coach T Dilip. Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, and Arshdeep Singh can be seen having a debate with Dilip. In the clip, Team India can be seen in two groups for the fielding session.
Watch the video here:
Team India’s last Test victory and defeat in Leeds
Team India’s last Test win in Leeds came in 2002 under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy, beating hosts England by an innings and 46 runs. Rahul Dravid became the player of the match (POTM) for his stunning knock of 148. Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly also played notable innings of 193 and 128 respectively.
Discussing both teams’ last engagement at this venue, it happened in 2021 and the English side emerged victorious by an innings and 76 runs. Ollie Robinson became the POTM for his impactful 2/16 and 5/65 figures in the game. India will be expected to be at their best against the hosts, who are highly-likely to play an aggressive brand of cricket under Ben Stokes.
