In the milestone 100th Test of India's Ravichandran Ashwin and England's Jonny Bairstow, the hosts dominated the proceedings with both bat and ball after Zak Crawley's gutsy 79. Skipper Rohit Sharma and his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal scored half-centuries. At the end of Day 1's play, India's top order reduced the deficit to 83 runs with nine wickets in hand in the fifth and final test of the series.
Kuldeep strikes twice but Crawley continues good form
Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to bat first. England got off to a cautious start and then English openers attacked Rohit and introduced Kuldeep in the 18th over. After conceding two boundaries, the wrist spinner dismissed Ben Duckett with a googly. He scored 27 runs from 58 balls. They shared a 64-run opening partnership. In Kuldeep's third over, India missed a chance to get rid of Crawley as skipper and wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel were not convinced by Sarfaraz Khan that there was an edge off the bat. He was batting on 38 then.
Crawley reached his half-century from 64 balls. In the next over, he hit Ashwin for the first six of the match. Kuldeep ended the first session with the wicket of Ollie Pope he faced down the track and missed the length. He scored 11 runs from 24 balls. England were 100/2 at the lunch break. Early in the second session, Crawley got another reprieve as Ravindra Jadeja dropped a rare catch off his bowling. But Kuldeep got the better of him with a stunning delivery that turned square and crashed into the stumps. The opener scored 79 runs from 108 balls.
Bairstow’s cameo
While Joe Root played conventional cricket, Bairstow went ballistic. He smashed Kuldeep for a six. The leggie then dropped a chance as well. He hit another six to reach 6,000 runs in Test cricket. Kuldeep reached the milestone of 50 wickets in the same over with Bairstow's wicket. He contributed with an 18-ball 29 cameo. In the next over, Jadeja trapped Root in front of the wickets. He scored 26 runs from 56 balls.
Kuldeep-Ashwin wrap it up
Kuldeep completed his fifer with Stokes' wicket. He was dismissed for a six-ball duck as he failed to pick the googly and the ball hit his pads. Ashwin was brought back into the attack and he struck twice to get rid of Tom Hartley and Mark Wood.
In the third session, Ben Foakes and Shoaib Bashir looked to score quickly. But Ashwin deceived Foakes with the flight to get his wicket. James Anderson could not open his account and departed for a three-ball duck. Ashwin's four-wicket haul bowled out England for 218.
Jaiswal, Rohit dominate English bowlers except Anderson
Indian openers were respectful of Anderson as he conceded just four runs for as many overs with the new ball. But Stokes made a change by bringing Bashir from his end. Jaiswal smashed him for three sixes in the over. Rohit attacked Hartley hitting him for two fours in an over. Rohit hit the first six of his innings in the left-arm spinner next over. Meanwhile, Jaiswal became the second-quickest Indian to complete 1,000 runs in Test cricket. With two consecutive fours off Jaiswal, he completed 700 runs in the Test series as well. He completed his half-century from 56 balls.
Jaiswal departs, Rohit hits fifty
After taking a beating, Bashir managed to get Jaiswal stumped. He scored 57 runs from 58 balls including five fours and three sixes. Rohit got to his half-century from 77 balls. In the same over, Gill smashed Bashir for a six as well. He hit another six in the last over of the day and remained unbeaten for 26 runs off 39 balls. On the other end, Rohit scored 52 runs from 83 balls. India were 135/1 after 30 overs, trailing by 83 runs.
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