England in a spin as India take control on day one of fifth Test in Dharamsala
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Spin duo Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Ashwin took nine wickets between them to help India seize control against England on day one of the fifth and final Test of the series.
Zak Crawley anchored England’s innings in the morning after they won the toss and chose to bat first, bringing up his fourth half-century of this tour before lunch in Dharamsala.
The dismissals of Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope in the morning slightly checked their progress, and Crawley got a reprieve early in the afternoon when he was given not out when India chose not to review an appeal for caught when replays suggested a thin inside edge on the right-hander’s bat.
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However, his departure for 79 triggered a collapse which saw England lose eight wickets for 81 runs, slumping from 137-2 to 218 all out as Kuldeep (5-72) and Ashwin (4-51), on his 100th Test appearance, did the damage. The hosts then raced to 135-1 at the close.
Crawley sets the tone
Openers Crawley and Duckett made a solid start for England at the picturesque Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, putting on an opening stand of 64 after resting some testing seam bowling from the recalled Jasprit Bumrah in particular.
The introduction of wrist-spinner Kuldeep in the 18th over immediately yielded the breakthrough India had been searching for though as he tempted left-hander Duckett into going for the big shot, which he skied up and was caught off by a scrambling Shubman Gill.
Crawley stood firm at the other end though and went on to pass 50, with Pope happy to take the odd single and let the Kent batter keep the strike, and after he passed that milestone, he began to cut loose – including hoisting Ashwin back down the ground for six.
Surrey batter Pope became Kuldeep’s second victim on the stroke of lunch though, falling for 11 when he galloped down the wicket and missed one from the left-armer, with wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel whipping off the bails to leave England 100-2 at lunch.
Crawley, who had survived two DRS referrals for lbw in the morning, was given a let-off in the first full over after lunch on 61 when India opted not to review a catch despite the strong protests of Sarfaraz Khan and replays showed they perhaps should have not erred on the side of caution.
Ravi Jadeja then put the batter down from a caught and bowled chance, but Crawley was eventually dismissed in the 38th over when he was bowled by Kuldeep to become the spinner’s third victim.
England’s middle order falls apart again
Jonny Bairstow, playing in his 100th Test match, wasted little time in getting stuck into the India bowling attack, passing 6,000 runs in the longest format in the process, and showed no sign of abating after being dropped on 21.
However, his entertaining 18-ball cameo, featuring two fours and two sixes, came to an end for the addition of just eight more runs as he edged Kuldeep to Jurel and failed to overturn the on-field umpire’s decision after reviewing it.
Joe Root then departed for 26 in the 45th over, given out lbw to Jadeja, and that was swiftly followed by Kuldeep completing his five-for as the 29-year-old trapped Ben Stokes in the same manner without scoring, with the England captain burning his team’s final review in the process.
Tom Hartley (6) and Mark Wood (0) both fell to Ashwin as England limped to 194-8 at tea, and although Ben Foakes dug in to provide a modicum of stability, he was out for 24 in the third over of the evening session after the ball deflected onto the stumps from his pads and was swiftly followed by James Anderson for a duck to bring the innings to a close.
England’s bowlers were then made to toil for much the remainder of the final session, but Shoaib Bashir did make a breakthrough late in the day as he had Yashasvi Jaiswal stumped following a quickfire 57 from 58 balls which included five fours and three sixes.
Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma had compiled an opening stand of 104, and the captain remained unbeaten at the crease on 52 along with Gill (26 not out) at the close of play with India trailing by 83 runs with nine wickets still in hand.
What’s next?
Play resumes on day two in Dharamsala at 4am UK time, with live text commentary available via our blog on the Sky Sports website and app.
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