Dharamsala: England were all at sea against the mastery of India spinner Kuldeep Yadav, whose fourth five-wicket haul reduced the visitors to 194 for eight at tea on day one of the fifth Test here Thursday.
Kuldeep engineered a middle-order collapse that saw England lose three wickets for no run and all of a sudden they found themselves reeling at 175 for six from three down on the same score.
The left-arm wrist spinner, who struck twice in the morning, added three more wickets to his tally in the afternoon while R Ashwin took two.
England lost six wickets in the session for 94 runs.
Kuldeep could have got rid of Zak Crawley (79 off 108) on the second ball of the day but India opted against DRS for a catch.
But the 29-year-old spinner did not have to wait long thereafter as he got one to turn massively from the imaginary fifth stump to shatter the England opener’s leg-stump. Both the inward drift and the sharp turn led to Crawley’s dismissal.
Jonny Bairstow (29 off 19), who like Ashwin is playing his 100th Test, showed plenty of intent in his innings but could not last long. Like the other batters, he could not read Kuldeep from his hands and got a faint outside edge off a googly.
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He went for a review but ended up wasting it, exactly what Joe Root (26) and Ben Stokes (0) did on the same score of 175. Jadeja trapped Root in front with a straighter one after beating the English batter’s outside edge on the previous ball.
Stokes was the fifth victim of Kuldeep who had the opposition skipper plumb in front with a googly. Kuldeep ended up bowling 10.3 overs in the session.
Ashwin sent back Tom Hartley and Mark Wood in quick session to join the spinners’ party.
In the morning session, Crawley made a classy unbeaten half-century after surviving an extended opening spell from the Indian pacers before Kuldeep struck twice to leave the visitors at 100 for two at lunch.
On expected lines, the skillful duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj made the ball talk but Ben Duckett (27 off 58) and Crawley were able to see the first 14 overs of fast bowling after being beaten multiple times.
Crawley, who has been England’s stand-out batter in this series, was meticulous with his shot selection and played some delightful cover drives off the pacers on way to his half-century.
Siraj ended up bowling eight overs in the morning session and Bumrah seven with both conceding 24 runs.
Ashwin was the first change before Kuldeep came to bowl in the 18th over.
Despite being hit for two fours off his first five balls, Kuldeep was not afraid to flight the ball and was rewarded as Duckett’s mistimed hit was pouched by Shubman Gill, who took a spectacular catch running backwards from cover.
Like Duckett, Crawley too was beaten by the pacers in the first hour of play but he picked the right balls to flaunt his cover drives. He also survived a close DRS call before reaching his fourth half-century of the series with a boundary down the ground.
In the next over, Crawley stepped out to smash Ashwin for a six over long on.
Kuldeep’s second strike came at the stroke of lunch as Ollie Pope (11) stepped out only to be beaten by the Indian spinner’s googly and to get stumped.
