Team India concluded the first day of the fifth and final India versus England Test at the HPCA Stadium trailing by 83 runs with a score of 135.
Opener Rohit Sharma remained unbeaten on 52 runs, while Yashasvi Jaiswal contributed 57 runs off 58 balls before being dismissed by Shoaib Bashir. Shubman Gill partnered with the captain and ended the day unbeaten on 26 runs.
Spinners' Day
Earlier, in England’s first innings, chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav delivered an outstanding performance by taking five wickets, while off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin secured four wickets. England, who chose to bat first, initially had a strong position at 100/1, but Kuldeep's 5-72 and Ashwin’s 4-51 disrupted their batting lineup.
Kuldeep's remarkable spell also marked his 50th Test wicket and made him the second spinner, following Australia’s Nathan Lyon, to achieve a five-wicket haul in Tests at Dharamshala.
Openers Gone
With England choosing to bat first, Crawley and Ben Duckett formed a solid 64-run partnership in 108 balls. Duckett reached the fifty-mark for their collaboration in the 15th over. Duckett's attempt to play a googly resulted in a mistimed shot. Shubman Gill made a fantastic diving catch to dismiss him.
Just before lunch, Pope stepped out to flick against Kuldeep, but the googly deceived him, leading to an easy stumping by Dhruv Jurel.
In the post-lunch session, Crawley and Joe Root combined for five boundaries. Crawley had a close call with a caught-and-bowled chance against Ravindra Jadeja but survived. His innings concluded at 79 when Kuldeep castled his stumps.
Batters Fell Like a Pack of Cards
In his 100th Test match, Jonny Bairstow showed aggressive batting with powerful leg-side shots. However, when he tried to drive Kuldeep's delivery, he nicked the ball to keeper Dhruv Jurel.
Next to depart was Joe Root, who was trapped lbw by a slider from Jadeja. Kuldeep claimed his fifth wicket by dismissing Ben Stokes with a googly.
Ravichandran Ashwin, also playing his 100th Test, quickly made an impact by getting Tom Hartley caught with a top-edged slog-sweep and Mark Wood caught at slip, taking two wickets in three balls.
Last Nail in the Coffin
After tea, Ashwin added a third wicket by forcing Ben Foakes to roll back onto his stumps while attempting a sweep. James Anderson survived an lbw appeal initially but mistimed a slog against Ashwin, resulting in a catch at mid-wicket, bringing an end to the England innings.
India's Innings
In reply, while Jaiswal was measured at the start, Rohit became the aggressor with four boundaries in the first six overs, with a hoick over fine leg for six off Mark Wood being the standout. Jasiwal got into attacking mode by smacking three sixes – on both sides of ‘V’ and cover - in first over of Shoaib Bashir.
Rohit clipped Tom Hartley twice for fours, before pulling the spinner for six, even as Jaiswal used his wrists and power to take five boundaries off Bashir, with the fourth one giving him his fifty and also became the quickest Indian to reach 1000 Test runs.
Jaiswal also went past past Virat Kohli to grab the record for most runs in a Test series against England (655), and crossed the 700-run mark of runs in a Test series. But Jaiswal fell for 57 after coming out to go big against Bashir, and was stumped easily.
Gill timed his pick-up pull and slog-sweep really well, even as Rohit got his fifty in 77 balls. Gill ended the day by slog-sweeping against Bashir and Hartley for a six each as India got a perfect day of Test cricket action after losing the toss.
With inputs from IANS.
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