Kuldeep Yadav’s five-for and fifties from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma helped India take complete control of the proceedings on day 1 of the final Test against England in Dharamsala. In relatively good conditions for batting, England lost their last seven wickets for a mere 43 runs as they were bowled out for 218. The home side then ended the day’s play at 135 for 1, behind by only 83 runs.
The visitors, who won the toss and opted to bat, started on a brisk note, with Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett sharing an opening stand of 64. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj generated some swing upfront but couldn’t find the breakthrough. It was Kuldeep who made the initial incision by inducing Duckett to go over the covers, only for Shubman Gill to grab an excellent running catch. At the stroke of Lunch break, Kuldeep removed Ollie Pope with a peach of googly. Pope charged down the deck, only to be stumped.
Crawley, who had a couple of narrow escapes, was castled by Kuldeep. It was another cracker of a delivery as it tempted the opener to drive, only for the ball to sneak through the gap between bat and pad. For a while Jonny Bairstow played with a sense of adventure before becoming Kuldeep’s fourth victim. When Ravindra Jadeja dismissed England’s mainstay, Joe Root, the visitors had lost half their side.
The slide continued as Kuldeep bagged his fifth wicket of the innings by sending Ben Stokes back to the hut. From 175 for 3, England had suddenly hurtled to 175 for 6. After the Tea break, Ben Foakes essayed a few shots before England’s innings folded up. R Ashwin, playing in his 100th Test, cleaned up the tail and finished with a four-for.
The opening duo of Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal then played with freedom to put the England spinners to the sword. Jaiswal smacked as many as five boundaries and three sixes, while Rohit crunched six fours and two sixes. Be it against the turn or with the turn, Jaiswal showed loads of flair. In the process of reaching his fifty, Jaiswal also became the fastest Indian to cross the 1000-run mark in Test cricket and went past 700 runs in the ongoing Test series.
Eventually, he was stumped by Foakes off Bashir. The young spinner did celebrate the moment by giving Jaiswal a stare. However, his celebrations were short-lived as Gill also smashed a couple of sixes to ensure India ended the day on a high.