Left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav scythed through England with a sensational five-wicket haul to make it a dominating second session for India on day one of the first Test at the HPCA Stadium on Thursday.
At tea, England are 194/8 in 55 overs, with Ben Foakes and Shoaib Bashir unbeaten at eight and five respectively. It was a session where England amassed 94 runs, but India had the upper hand by taking six wickets, led by Kuldeep’s 5-72, including him taking his 50th Test wicket.
The post-lunch session began with Zak Crawley surviving an inside edge to short leg on a leg-break from Kuldeep, as India didn’t take the review, with replays later showing a thin edge. He and Joe Root hit five boundaries between themselves, with Crawley surviving a caught-and-bowled dismissal off Ravindra Jadeja.
But his knock came to an end on 79 when he was tempted into a drive by Kuldeep, but was castled through the gate. Jonny Bairstow, in his 100th Test appearance, came out all guns blazing with his leg-side boundaries, but in an attempt to drive off Kuldeep, he sent a nick behind to keeper Dhruv Jurel.
Joe Root was next to fall, trapped lbw by a Jadeja slider and Kuldeep got his fifth wicket when his googly rapped Ben Stokes in front of the stumps. It has been a brilliant spell from Kuldeep, who bowled a mix of googlies and leg-breaks while drawing the batters on both front and back foot, and is now the second spinner after Australia’s Nathan Lyon to take a five-wicket haul in Tests at Dharamshala.
Ravichandran Ashwin, playing his 100th Test match, had Tom Hartley top-edging a slog-sweep to deep mid-wicket and Mark Wood edging to slip to pick two wickets in three balls. England could have ended second session at 184/9 if Jurel had caught a thick edge of Bashir off Jadeja. In the final session, India will be aiming to wrap up the England innings quickly.
Brief Scores: England 194/8 in 55 overs (Zak Crawley 79; Kuldeep Yadav 5-72) against India