ENGLAND GOES INTO A TAILSPIN
Kuldeep, Ashwin share nine wickets to help India dominate Day 1
DHARAMSALA: The fragility of England batters against high-quality spin was exposed once again before India showed it how to bat on a flat track by cruising to 135 for one at stumps on day one of the fifth and final Test here on Thursday.
Opting to bat, England was all at sea against the mastery of left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav whose fourth five-wicket haul in Tests allowed India to bowl out the visitor for 218 in its first innings shortly after tea.
Playing his 100th Test, R Ashwin cleaned up the tail with four wickets while Ravindra Jadeja took one. Contrary to expectations, all 10 wickets went to the spinners at the scenic HPCA Stadium and the last seven batsmen fell while adding only 43 runs.
India came out to bat in bright sunshine and Rohit Sharma (52 batting off 83 balls) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (57 off 58b) put the host in firm control with a 104-run stand. India reached 135 for one in 30 overs at close. Shubman Gill (26 off 39b) was batting alongside Rohit.
It was the highest opening stand of this series for India and was broken when Jaiswal got a bit carried away to be stumped off Shoaib Bashir after collecting back-to-back boundaries. The Indian skipper, at the other end, too played confidently. He made his intentions clear by pulling a 150kmph rising delivery off Mark Wood over fine leg for six in the fourth over of the innings.
However, India’s march to command started in the second session when it reduced the visitor to 194 for eight at tea as Kuldeep engineered a middle-order collapse that saw England lose three wickets for no run. England lost six wickets in the middle session for 94 runs.
Kuldeep could have got rid of Zak Crawley (79 off 108) on the second ball after lunch break but India opted against DRS for a catch.
But the 29-year-old spinner did not have to wait long thereafter as he got one to turn from the imaginary fifth stump to shatter the England opener’s leg-stump.
Jonny Bairstow (29), who is also playing his 100th Test, showed plenty of intent in his innings but could not last long. Like the other batters, he could not read Kuldeep from his hands and got a faint outside edge off a googly. He went for a review but ended up wasting it, exactly what Joe Root (26) and Ben Stokes (0) did on the same score of 175.
Stokes was the fifth victim of Kuldeep who had the opposition skipper plumb in front with a googly. Ashwin sent back Hartley and Wood in quick session to join the party.
In the morning, Crawley made a classy unbeaten half-century after surviving an extended opening spell from the Indian pacers before Kuldeep struck twice to leave the visitor at 100 for two at lunch.
BRIEF SCORES: England 218 in 57.4 overs (Z Crawley 79, K Yadav 5/72, R Ashwin 4/51) vs India 135/1 in 30 overs (Y Jaiswal 57, R Sharma 52 batting)