On a cold morning in Dharamsala on March 7, the stage was set for the Indian pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj to utilise the conditions on offer and make life difficult for the English batters on Day 1 of the 5th Test. Bumrah and Siraj made the ball jag around but an elusive wicket evaded them and England openers raced on to another fifty-plus stand. Just when India required an inspirational performance, Kuldeep Yadav put his hand up and dragged India to the driver's seat. A phenomenal spell from Kuldeep spelled doom for England and Ben Stokes' crew folded for just 218 runs.
Kuldeep Yadav weaves his magic in Dharamsala
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett took England to a decent start, just like how they have done for the majority part of the series. With England's score at 64/0, the visitors looked to take a more aggressive approach, which ultimately shifted the momentum towards India. Duckett (27) mistimed his lofted shot off Kuldeep's bowling and Shubman Gill took a spectacular catch.
Just on the stroke of lunch, Ollie Pope (11) jumped out of his crease with no idea about Kuldeep googly. As a result, the right-handed batter was stumped by Dhruv Jurel. The first session ended with England's score at 100/2.
Kuldeep runs through England's top order
Post the lunch break, Kuldeep picked up from where he had left before the interval. After settling into a nice rhythm, the left-arm wrist spinner bamboozled in-form Crawley with a stunning delivery. Crawley (79) went for an expansive drive on the off side seeing a loopy delivery. The ball pitched and turned sharply before finding its way in between Crawley's bat and pad, leaving the stumps wrecked.
From 137/2 to 183/8, England completely lost their way and succumbed to the spin mastery of Kuldeep, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Ravindra Jadeja traps Joe Root
After dismissing Crawley, Kuldeep sent a dangerous-looking Jonny Bairstow (29) back to the pavilion. Jadeja joined in the act and trapped England's best batter Joe Root (26) right in front of the sticks before Kuldeep completed his five-fer by trapping English skipper Ben Stokes (0) plumb before the sticks with another well-disguised googly.
Ashwin dismissed Tom Hartley (6) and Mark Wood (0) in the space of three balls, leaving England tottering at 183/8.
Foakes and Bashir add handy runs for England
With their backs against the wall, Ben Foakes and Shoaib Bashir tried to counter-attack to score as many runs as possible. Foakes whacked three fours in his knock of 24 runs and added 35 runs in his alliance with Bashir. Ashwin then broke the partnership by dismissing Foakes and later closed England's innings by dismissing James Anderson for a duck.
Kuldeep ended with sensational figures of 5/72 while Ashwin delivered a spell of 4/51. All 10 England wickets were taken by the Indian spinners on Day 1.
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