Kuldeep took 5 wickets and Ashwin took 4 wickets, reducing England to 218, India strong at 135/1.

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Hospice. Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav took a sensational five wickets on Thursday on the first day of the fifth and final Test match at the HPCA Stadium and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, playing his 100th Test, took four wickets to bowl out England for 218 runs in the first innings. In response, India has scored 135 runs after losing one wicket till the stumps. India is currently 83 runs behind England in the first innings.

The first day’s play has ended and it can be said that the Indian team is in a strong position. After bowling out England at 218, India scored 135 runs at the loss of one wicket in 30 overs in the first innings. India are now trailing by only 83 runs and Shubman Gill remains at the crease along with Rohit Sharma. After the brilliant bowling of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Ashwin, the smoky batting of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit has put the visiting team in trouble. Gill has also shown a positive game so far and has hit some big shots.

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 57 runs and captain Rohit Sharma scored 52 not out. Shubman Gill is at the crease with Rohit after scoring 26 runs. Jaiswal hit five fours and three sixes in 58 balls while Rohit hit six fours and two sixes in 83 balls. Playing aggressively, Gill hit two fours and two sixes in 39 balls.

Jaiswal and Rohit added 104 runs for the first wicket. Jaiswal lost his wicket while trying to play a big shot. Jaiswal, who came out of the crease to hit a six on Shoaib Bashir, was stumped. But after this Rohit and Gill took out the remaining time safely.

Earlier, after winning the toss and batting first, England were in a comfortable position till lunch by scoring 100 runs for two wickets. But in the second session they lost six wickets due to which at the time of tea, England’s score became 194/8 in 55 overs. After tea, Ashwin wrapped up England’s innings by taking two wickets in one over. Kuldeep took five wickets for 72 runs, Ashwin took four wickets for 51 runs and left arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja took one wicket for 17 runs.

After a good start, once again England’s middle order failed and that is why they were all out in 57.4 overs. All 10 wickets went to the spinners.

There was a session after lunch in which England scored 94 runs, but India had the upper hand by taking six wickets, with Kuldeep taking 5 wickets, including his 50th Test wicket. He took five wickets in an innings for the fourth time in his career.

The post-lunch session began with Jack Crawley escaping an inside edge to short leg on Kuldeep’s leg-break as India did not take DRS, with replays later showing a thin edge. He and Joe Root hit five fours between themselves, with Crawley escaping caught-and-bowled by Ravindra Jadeja. But his innings ended on 79 runs when Kuldeep tempted him to drive, but the ball eluded him and entered the wicket.

Jonny Bairstow, in his 100th Test match, got off to a great start with a leg-side boundary, but in an attempt to drive on Kuldeep’s delivery, he was caught behind by keeper Dhruv Jurel. After this, Joe Root was out LBW by Jadeja’s slider and Kuldeep got his fifth wicket when his googly left Ben Stokes LBW in front of the stumps.

It was a brilliant spell from Kuldeep, who bowled a mixture of googlies and leg-breaks while attracting batsmen on both the front and back foot, and in Dharamsala now became the second spinner after Australia’s Nathan Lyon to take a five-wicket haul in Tests.

Ravichandran Ashwin, playing his 100th Test match, had Tom Hartley caught at deep mid-wicket with a slog-sweep and Mark Wood was caught at slip, taking two wickets in three balls. In the final session, Ashwin took two wickets in one over and reduced England’s innings to 218 runs.

–IANS

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