08 March,2024 07:00 AM IST | Dharamsala | R Kaushik
Off-spinner R Ashwin on Day One against England yesterday. Pic/PTI
Kuldeep Yadav's (5-72) outstanding exhibition of left-arm wrist spin on Thursday, marked by guile and craft, ripped the heart out of England's batting.
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj had been desperately unlucky in their extended opening spells, going past the outside edges of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett after Ben Stokes opted to bat. Riding on their good fortune - Crawley who survived a close leg before shout, was lucky that India didn't opt for the review when he was caught at short-leg by Sarfaraz Khan and was dropped by bowler Ravindra Jadeja - the openers put together their fifth half-century stand of the series.
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Celebrating a return to the venue where he made a famous Test debut against Australia seven years back, Kuldeep provided India with the breakthrough, evicting Duckett through an excellent catch by Shubman Gill running back from cover. But it was Ollie Pope's dismissal, as he walked past a worng âun and was stumped off the last ball before lunch, that truly set the cat amongst the pigeons.
From 100 for one, England were shot out for 218, well below par. The class of Kuldeep and the perseverance of R Ashwin, in his 100th Test, lured Stokes' men to their doom. Between lunch and tea, India plucked out six wickets with Kuldeep in top gear, making the ball fizz, drift, dip and turn.
India then raced to 135 for one by close on the back of a century opening stand between Rohit Sharma (52 not out) and the imperious Yashasvi Jaiswal (57), who must be kicking himself for throwing his hand away.
India furiously made swift inroads into the English total with Rohit and Jaiswal matching each other stroke for stroke. Jaiswal topped fifty for the fifth straight Test, smashing Shoaib Bashir for three sixes in the offie's first over before being stumped, but it was India's day all the way.
