A tour in balance: England v India, 2025

It began, as Test tours often do, with questions — of form, of temperament, of the character of young men walking into old roles. For India, the answers came not from noise or flourish, but from the quiet certainties of an opening pair. KL Rahul, measured and assured, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, all verve and promise, laid down the first bricks. Their bats spoke not just in runs, but in defiance — the kind that tells a dressing room: we belong here.

Behind them stood Shubman Gill — India’s boy captain with an old head. He batted as though knowing the ledger of Test cricket is balanced over time, not sessions. And when the top order stumbled, it was the lower order that stood up. Jadeja, evergreen in craft and calm. Sundar, studied and stubborn. Pant, as ever, a shot in the dark that lights up the day. Together, they didn’t just build innings — they built belief.

On the other side, England's intent was never cloaked. Their method had long been declared: five an over if you let us, four even if you don’t. To watch them bat was to witness an insurgency against convention — some days glorious, others reckless. They didn’t always win, but they never backed down. And that, too, is a kind of victory.

India’s bowlers, meanwhile, played the long game. The spearhead, Bumrah, when present, was thunder wrapped in rhythm — India’s truest match-winner. But when he was absent, a new story unfolded. Mohammed Siraj, taking the new ball and the mantle. Akash Deep, untested but undeterred. Krishna, raw yet ready. They did not dominate, but they did not disappear — and in England, that itself is a statement.

The series, by its end, settled into a 2–2 draw — not an outcome, but an equilibrium. England played as if each day were the last; India, as though the future was theirs. There were collapses, recoveries, spells of genius and moments of farce — a full tour of the human condition, dressed in flannels.

England’s cricket was a dare, and India’s a duel. In the end, it was not pressure that defined the contest, but nerve. The kind of cricket where one mistake could unravel an hour, a day, a Test. It wasn’t who blinked last, but who blinked least.

History will mark the numbers. The scorecard will survive the seasons. But what it won’t show is how a young Indian team, uncertain in shadow and sure in sunlight, left England not as visitors, but as equals. A team resurgent — not yet great, but on the road. And in the quiet aftermath, with the boots packed and the dressing rooms empty, that road — with its promise and peril — may be the most enduring image of all.