1st Test, Day 3: India 471 (Gill 147, Pant 134, Jaiswal 101 | Tongue 4-73, Stokes 4-85) & 90-2 lead England 465 (Pope 106, Brook 99 | Bumrah 5-83) by 96 runs with 8 wickets remaining
HEADINGLEY — As Harry Brook powered his way to what looked like being his ninth Test century, the Headingley crowd broke into a chorus of “Yorkshire, Yorkshire, Yorkshire”.
He may have flaked out on 99, pulling Prasidh Krishna down the throat of deep backward square leg, but by then the damage had been done.
Harry Brook taking the attack to Jasprit Bumrah pic.twitter.com/6bPhePBkyw
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 22, 2025
The love from his home crowd was evident as Brook went through the gears to produce an innings that put this absorbing first Test firmly back in the balance.
The way he nonchalantly advanced down the pitch early on day three to smash Jasprit Bumrah through the covers for four set the tone.
Yet there was little love from India’s players, with Mohammed Siraj perhaps embodying the frustrations of a nation when he went toe-to-toe with Brook to offer a few choice words to England’s batting superstar after being smashed for successive fours in the 84th over.
He was told by the Yorkshireman to get back to his mark, a gesture that would not have enamoured him any more to the majority of Indian cricket fans who already have an issue with him.
That he was given three lives here must have rubbed salt into the wounds. Bumrah first had Brook caught off a no-ball in the final over of the second day before he had even scored a run. He was then dropped on 46 and 82 on this third day.
square CRICKET Sport AnalysisBen Stokes’s secret fitness regime to be firing for the Ashes
Read More
This all added another thread to the rich tapestry of Brook’s complicated relationship with India that most recently saw him pick up a two-year ban from the Indian Premier League after pulling out of his £590,000 deal with Delhi Capitals for this year’s tournament to concentrate on his England career.
He also missed last year’s tournament, as well as England’s Test series in India, on compassionate grounds after the death of his grandmother, Pauline. This came before new IPL rules that now penalise players for pulling out of deals.
Yet it was his ill-fated IPL spell the year before that did most of the damage.
The standout comments were about the food – “It baffles me how people can have curry for breakfast” – and the state of Indian cities – “You walk around and there’s so many homeless people. I feel like I just want to help everybody out. It’s so sad to see.”
After scoring a 55-ball century for Sunrisers Hyderabad, he also hit back at fans who had criticised his slow start to the tournament following his arrival on a £1.35m deal.
Add in the ridicule that emanated from his statement about the Kolkata smog making it hard to pick wrist-spinner Varun Chakaravarthy during this year’s white-ball tour of India and it is not hard to see why Brook has become a target.
That he is England’s most destructive batter also makes him a lightning rod for opposition ire.
Harry Brook is out for 99! pic.twitter.com/r6kq8FwHdH
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 22, 2025
India aggressively targeted him here with the short ball, as they surely will all summer. He struggled at times, too. His life on nought came when he misread a Bumrah bouncer.
His dismissal came from a similar, if slower, ball from Krishna.
Australia will be keeping a keen eye on how Brook deals with the short stuff as they plan for this winter’s Ashes. They have beef with the Yorkshireman, too, after he coined the phrase “moral victory” during the 2023 Ashes series in England.
It came in the build-up to the final Test at The Oval after the Australians had retained the urn with that washout in the fourth Test at Old Trafford. Asked what the incentive to come back from 2-1 down was, he uttered the phrase that so riled the Aussies.
Asked why England were such sore losers, he replied neatly: “We haven’t lost yet.” Indeed, they went on to draw the series 2-2.
square CRICKET Sport AnalysisEngland’s Pope vs Bethell debate just got more muddled than ever
Read More
Facing India’s bouncer barrage in friendly territory is one thing. Withstanding the same from Australia’s attack in front of baying Antipodean crowds will be another.
Brook will be relentlessly reminded, no doubt, of his 2023 comments when he arrives Down Under in November.
He will also have his technique and his temperament tested like never before.
This first taste of Indian hostility in this series will be instructive. How he handles it may shape the trajectory of his whole year.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( England’s chief wind-up merchant makes India pay for missed chances )
Also on site :
- Anne Burrell's Husband Looks Somber in First Photo Since Food Network Star's Death
- Iran threatens US bases in Middle East, asserts nuclear facilities undamaged
- Trump’s Gulf Arab allies race to avoid all-out war in Iran