Now, let's talk about India's pace attack and the importance of its quieter players.

 Now, let's talk about India's pace attack and the importance of its quieter players.             

Shardul Thakur had two balls to hold on. Not with the bat, but with the ball. It was the 79th over, England needed just 30, and any remaining flicker of India's hope rested on reaching the second new ball. If there was even the faintest crack in the chase, it could only be prized open by Jasprit Bumrah with a fresh Dukes in hand.

Shubman Gill, wearing the strain of captaincy in his first Test in charge, offered Thakur a 7-2 off-side field - a clear message: shut one side down. Thakur ran up and bowled it full on middle-stump. Root glanced it fine, found the man in the deep, and walked through for a single after throwing up his head in disappointment. Anywhere else, that was four. Thakur too threw his head up. Perhaps he thought he could pull off the double bluff and surprise the No.1 ranked batter. One ball left. Gill walked up, added another catcher on the off-side for an uppish drive if the ball held on the surface. Even more insurance. But Jamie Smith pierced the field anyway, steering a short ball behind point for a boundary. It was a near-meaningless passage in a game that had already slipped away. And yet it said everything about what India lacked in Leeds - not just penetration, but control. Not just the brilliance of Bumrah, but the discipline and defensive edge from their support cast that could have made a 371-run chase feel like a mountain rather than a fast-track pursuit. India will rue the dropped chances and the batting collapse that kept England in a game they should have been shut out of, long before Day 5. But even with those accounted for, 371 remains a tall ask, even at Headingley. This ground is a nightmare to defend on if you don't know its rhythms. The outfield races, and the slope - running down towards the pitch from the Kirkstall Lane End and climbing back up from the Football Stand End - constantly pulls your angles off-centre. And across the match, fast bowlers went at an economy of 3.99 - brisk, but expected here. India's third and fourth seamers - Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thaku