(ESPNCRICINFO) – Headingley has become the home of the run chase, and England hauled in a target of 371 to prove it. Set up by Ben Duckett’s dazzling 149, and sealed with a six by Jamie Smith, they romped home in just 82 overs to seal a sixth consecutive win in Leeds – all while bowling first – and to take a 1-0 lead in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

It left Ben Stokes to breathe a sigh of relief after his decision to field first on Friday morning, and India to dwell on the countless opportunities they missed to take control of this Test. They hit five centuries to England’s two, but lower-order collapses of 7 for 41 and 6 for 31 proved costly – as did their six dropped catches.

This was a chastening way to start a new era for India, with Shubman Gill’s sparkling first-innings century long forgotten as he reflected on a heavy defeat in his first Test as captain. After series losses against New Zealand and Australia, India have now lost seven of their last nine Tests, and may only have Jasprit Bumrah available for two of the next four on the England tour.
Bumrah was borderline unplayable in Australia, taking 32 wickets in the series, but was unusually ineffective after his first-innings five-for at Headingley. He went wicketless in England’s run chase, and was seen off by Duckett and Zak Crawley, whose partnership of 188 in 42.2 overs laid the foundations for a victory cruise despite the lingering threat of rain.

Duckett was sublime, starting his innings slowly before accelerating against India’s weaker links. He was particularly severe on Ravindra Jadeja, whom he reverse swept into submission, and Prasidh Krishna, whose five wickets in the match could not disguise an eye-watering economy rate of 6.28, the most expensive in India’s Test history.

England wobbled in the afternoon against Prasidh and Shardul Thakur, but Smith and Joe Root saw them across the line with 14 overs remaining in the final hour. Root was characteristically cool in his unbeaten 53, while Smith took Jadeja for 18 runs in an over, including sixes over square leg and mid-on, to see his team across the line.

Duckett and Crawley had reached the lunch break unscathed, battling through probing early spells from Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj before tucking into India’s change bowlers. Duckett cut and pulled with total control until his hundred was a shot away: on 97, he offered a chance when he pulled Siraj to deep square leg on 97, but Yashasvi Jaiswal dropped his third catch of the match.

Siraj was furious, and made no effort to hide it. He had drawn Duckett into a verbal battle after drawing an outside edge which skewed away through a gap in the slip cordon soon after lunch, and could only watch in frustration as Duckett reverse swept Jadeja for four to reach three figures, his sixth Test century and his first in the second innings of a match.

Duckett punched the air to celebrate and then got back to work, milking Jadeja for off-side runs as he packed his leg-side field. But Prasidh prised the game open from the other end, first drawing an edge from Crawley which flew to first slip, and then nipping one back off the seam to induce a chop-on from Ollie Pope, England’s first-innings centurion.