Kuldeep & Co run rings around England

Indian spinners sent England into a tailspin before the batters drive them to a commanding position on the opening day of the Dharamsala Test.

Dharamsala: Even before a ball was bowled, the fifth and final Test here was special for more than one reason. Two players, R Ashwin and Jonny Bairstow, from the opposition sides were set for 100-Test milestones while Devdutt Padikkal became the fifth player from India to make Test debut in the series, equalling their record in Australia during the 2020-21 sojourn. Come to think of it, there are some eerie similarities between the two series which witnessed some riveting cricket with India emerging winners on both occasions.

Virat Kohli missed the final three Tests Down Under owing to the birth of his first child. He missed the entire series against England for the birth of his second child. India lost the first match in both series.

There were injuries to a handful of senior cricketers, not unlike in the ongoing series, that fast-tracked a few players who fashioned India's win from the depths of despair.

With the series in the bag, India were favourites to win the final Test as well but the cold conditions, which were more English and than Indian, had rekindled tourists' hopes of pulling one back and reducing the margin of defeat. On Thursday's opening day of the Test, however, weather gods, too, decided align with India as the day remained sunny all through even as hosts' spin troika sent England into a tailspin after their batters had weathered testing opening spells from Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj with some pluck and plenty of luck. 

Bumrah and Siraj swung the ball more here than in any of the previous Tests this series, beat the bat times without number, forced many false shots, extracted numerous edges but failed to separate the opening stand between Zak Crawley (79) and Ben Duckett. The introduction of Kuldeep Yadav (5/72) did the trick though. The left-arm wrist spinner elicited a wild swing from Duckett but the left-hander could only top-edge to Shubman Gill who completed an excellent catch running back for about 20 yards before diving and staying with the ball. This was the first of Kuldeep's five victims, Ravindra Jadeja (1/17) trapped Joe Root plumb in front with a trickery only he can pull off for his lone wicket while Ashwin (4/51) wiped the floor as England went from 64 for no loss to 218 all out just 16 minutes into the final session. 

Yashasvi Jaiswal (57, 58b, 5x4, 3x6) and Rohit Sharma (52 n.o., 83b, 6x4, 2x6) toyed with England bowlers as India took stumps at 135/1 in 30 overs, cutting the lead to 83. Shubman Gill was giving Rohit the company on 26 (39, 2x4, 2x6).

Kuldeep enjoys a good vibe at this picturesque venue where he made his debut in 2017. He had taken four Aussie first-day wickets to set the tone for India's win. The 29-year-old went one better with a fifer, including the first four to fall on the day, as India appeared primed for a 4-1 series scoreline. England could have left for lunch at 100 or more for one, but Ollie Pope committed the cardinal sin of stepping forward only to be deceived by a Kuldeep googly. Dhruv Jurel did the rest behind the stumps at which point the lunch was taken.           

Crawley, who posted his highest score of the series, didn't last long post lunch, beaten neck and crop by a sharp turner from Kuldeep while Bairstow's boisterous stint ended with another googly from the Uttar Pradesh bowler, India getting the batter after a caught-behind review. Jadeja then swung into action by dismissing Root. The left-arm spinner turned one from the middle and leg, sowing doubts in the right-hander's mind. Root, expecting a similar delivery next, played for the turn but was foxed by a straighter one. Half the England side was down as was their morale. With Ashwin running through the lower-middle and tail, England capitulated in no time.

SCORE BOARD

ENGLAND (I Innings):

Crawley b Kuldeep 79
(165m, 108b, 11x4, 1x6)

Duckett c Shubman b Kuldeep 27
(88m, 58b, 4x4)

Pope st Jurel b Kuldeep 11
(29m, 24b)

Root lbw Jadeja 26
(82m, 56b, 4x4)

Bairstow c Jurel b Kuldeep 29
(23m, 18b, 2x4)

Stokes lbw Kuldeep 0
(12m, 6b)

Foakes b Ashwin 24
(50m, 42b, 3x4)

Hartley c Padikkal b Ashwin 6
(11m, 9b, 1x4)

Wood c Rohit b Ashwin 0
(2m, 1b)

Bashir (not out) 11
(31m, 22b, 2x4)

Anderson c Padikkal b Ashwin 0
(2m, 3b)

Extras (B-2, LB-2, NB-2) 5

Total (all out 57.4 overs) 218

Fall of wickets: 1-64 (Duckett), 2-100 (Pope), 3-137 (Crawley), 4-175 (Bairstow), 5-175 (Root), 6-175 (Stokes), 7-183 (Hartley), 8-183 (Wood), 9-218 (Foakes).

Bowling: Bumrah 13-2-51-0 (nb-2), Siraj 8-1-24-0, Ashwin 11.4-1-51-4, Kuldeep 15-1-72-5, Jadeja 10-2-17-1.

INDIA (I Innings):

Jaiswal st Foakes b Bashir 57
(83m, 58b, 5x4, 3x6)

Rohit (batting) 52
(83b, 6x4, 2x6)

Gill (batting) 26
(39b, 2x4, 2x6)

Total (for 1 wkt, 30 overs) 135

Fall of wicket: 1-104 (Jaiswal).

Bowling: Anderson 4-1-4-0, Wood 3-0-21-0, Hartley 12-0-46-0, Bashir 11-2-64-1.