Kuldeep sends England on a downward spiral

The leftarm wrist spinner’s fivefor triggers a collapse as the visitors lose seven wickets for 43; Ashwin finishes with a fourfor; hosts end the day at 135 for one as Rohit and Jaiswal hit fifties

WKuldeep had the England batters in a web. hen spin claims all 11 wickets on the opening day of a Test, it is not surprising to find the preparedness of the pitch under scrutiny. But the contrasting ways in which the two teams dealt with spin, soon put a lid on the simmering discussion.

After England opted to bat, Kuldeep Yadav and R. Ashwin took turns to claim nine wickets and Ravindra Jadeja made his presence felt by taking out Joe Root as England tumbled from 175 for three to 218.

The gains provided the spinners stood further enhanced after India raced to 135 for one at stumps. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal posted their first century stand of the season in under 21 overs.

Soon after reaching his half century, Jaiswal gifted his wicket to Shoaib Bashir, the man whom he hoisted for three sixes in an over. All three Indian batters on view did not hold back their strokes. Rohit and Shubman Gill, too, hit two sixes each. The Indian innings has produced 13 boundaries and seven sixes in 30 overs and quickly moved within 83 runs of England’s tally.

The batters did provide a ‘feelgood’ feeling at the end of a full day’s play. But the hero of the day was Kuldeep, who made a spectacular return to the venue where he made his debut with four for 68 against Australia in March 2017.

After Ashwin was introduced in the 15th over and Kuldeep in the 18th, the leftarm wristspinner got his act right off the sixth ball. Welcomed with boundaries by Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, Kuldeep came back almost immediately by mixing drift and turn.

Duckett went after a googly from Kuldeep but his miscued shot ended up in a brilliant running catch by Gill, who ran back to dive in time to take it. Ollie Pope stepped out but misread the spin to be stumped at the stroke of lunch.

In the second session, England was cruising along and reached 137 when Crawley, after producing his best of 79 in this series, became Kuldeep’s third victim. The ball turned and crashed into Crawley’s stumps as the batter shaped to play defensively.

Though Root continued his form from Ranchi, Jonny Bairstow looked keen to enjoy his 100th Test outing. But his 18ball 29, during which he reached 6000 Test runs, ended with Jurel producing a reflex catch off a faint edge. Root was trapped legbefore by Jadeja and dangerman Ben Stokes surprisingly chose a backfoot ondrive to become Kuldeep’s fifth scalp.

After three wickets fell in the space of 13 dot balls, England looked at Ben Foakes to rebuild with the tailenders but did not reckon with Ashwin’s strikepower.

The offspinner removed Tom Hartley and Mark Wood in one over before tea, returned to pack off Foakes and James Anderson.