IND vs ENG, 5th Test | Kuldeep And Ashwin Run Through ENG Before Rohit Sharma, Jaiswal's 50s

Kuldeep Yadav appealing for an LBW on Day 1 (BCCI)

Brief Scores: England (1st innings): 218 all out (57.4 overs) [Zak Crawley: 79 (108), Jonny Bairstow: 29 (18); Kuldeep Yadav 5/72 (15), Ravichandran Ashwin 4/51 (11.4)] lead India (1st innings): 135-1 (30 overs) [Yashasvi Jaiswal: 57 (58), Rohit Sharma: 52* (83); Shoaib Bashir 1/64 (11)] by 83 runs.

Emboldened by a collective team effort, hosts India decimated England across all aspects on Day 1 of their fifth Test match at Dharamshala’s HPCA Stadium.

Indian spinners roll England over for 218

Amidst much talks of possible seam-friendly conditions on offer in Dharamshala, Indian spinners once again came to the fore as they collectively demolished England’s entire batting line-up within two sessions of Day 1.

After Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett overcame Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj to race to a 64-run opening stand, Kuldeep Yadav accounted for the latter as well as number three Ollie Pope in a space of a single spell.

The left-arm spinner also broke through Crawley’s attacking mindset with a peach before beating up England’s 100-Test player Jonny Bairstow with a feather to wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel. After Kuldeep Yadav claimed each of the first four English wickets of the innings, Ravindra Jadeja curtailed Joe Root’s threatening stay with a straight delivery as the visitors slipped to 175-5 at the halfway stage of the day.

Yadav trapped England captain Ben Stokes plumb in front the very next over to pocket his fourth Test five-fer, and completing 50-format wickets in the process.

Ravichandran Ashwin, India’s 100th Test representative, claimed the final four English wickets on offer to mop up the tourists for just 218 in 57.4 overs.

Apart from Crawley’s attacking 79, none of the other visiting batters managed to outscore Bairstow’s mere 29-run effort, as Duckett (27), Root (26) and Ben Foakes (24) also failed to capitalise on their confident starts in the innings.

Rohit Sharma, Jaiswal pound sizzling 50s

Indian captain Rohit Sharma shared yet another belligerent 100-plus stand with opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top of the order. While Jaiswal smacked five boundaries and launched three smoking sixes in his near run-a-ball 57 before falling victim to Shoaib Bashir, skipper Sharma motored along to race to 52* by stumps.

Number three batter Shubman Gill himself pumped 26 unbeaten runs in the final hour of the day, and will now resume India’s first innings charge alongside his skipper at 135-1.

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