DHARAMSALA: Kuldeep Yadav took five wickets to bundle England out for 218, with India’s batsmen starting strongly on a dominant opening day for the hosts in the fifth Test here at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium on Thursday.

Yadav returned figures of 5-72, with fellow spinner Ravichandran Ashwin — playing his landmark 100th Test — taking four wickets, the spinners helping India bowl out the visitors in just 57.4 overs.

India reached 135-1 at stumps at the picturesque venue, still trailing England by 83 runs.

Skipper Rohit Sharma, on 52, and Shubman Gill, on 26, were batting at the close of play after the in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal fell for 57.

Yadav was the day’s standout performer with his left-arm wrist spin leaving England bamboozled after the tourists had raced to 137-2, riding off Zak Crawley’s 79.

“I have become a lot more mature about my bowling, “said 29-year-old Yadav, who made his debut at the same venue in 2017 against Australia.

“I understand my game a lot better now. I know how to read the wicket.”

Once the spinners were done with England, India’s batsmen took charge.

The left-handed Jaiswal looked assured until his departure as he smashed spinner Shoaib Bashir for three sixes in an over, and consolidated his position at the top of the series batting charts with 712 runs.

Bashir, a rookie off-spinner, got Jaiswal stumped to end a 104-run opening stand.

Jaiswal, 22, went past 1,000 runs in just his 16th Test innings since his debut last year, becoming the second-quickest Indian to the mark after the now-retired Vinod Kambli (14 innings).

Veteran England seamer James Anderson, 41, is just two wickets shy of becoming the third bowler to take 700 Test wickets, after Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and the late Australian great Shane Warne (708).

England were 175-3, but top batsmen Jonny Bairstow (29), Joe Root (26) and skipper Ben Stokes — out for a duck — all fell without the score advancing.

In all, England lost five wickets for eight runs in seven overs in that collapse.

Crawley, who raised his fourth half-century of the series in the first session, survived a few reprieves before being bowled by Yadav off a delivery that turned in sharply to hit the stumps.

Bairstow, who received his 100th cap from Root with his family by his side in the morning, joined the former captain at the crease and looked solid as he smashed Yadav for two sixes.

He went past 6,000 Test runs before Yadav got him caught behind off a googly that took the edge into the wicket-keeper’s gloves. He made 29.

Ravindra Jadeja struck four balls later to trap Root lbw for 26.

Stokes was also given out lbw off Yadav for nought.

England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick praised Yadav for turning the ball like no other in the series.

“We could all see there were some deliveries bowled that had more spin than we’d seen for a while — and more spin than anyone else has got on this pitch so far on day one,” said Trescothick.

“Give him credit, he bowled well. When you get a wrist-spinner with variations... if you don’t pick it, then you’re in a lot of trouble.”

In the first session, the openers had taken time to settle in, but Crawley soon found his groove, hitting 11 fours and a six. He put on 64 runs with Ben Duckett, who made 27.

Yadav struck in his first over as Duckett’s slog got a leading edge, with Gill running backwards to take a diving catch.

India lost the opening Test but hit back to take an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

SCOREBOARD

ENGLAND (1st Innings):

Z. Crawley b Yadav79

B. Duckett c Gill b Yadav27

O. Pope st Jurel b Yadav11

J. Root lbw b Jadeja26

J. Bairstow c Jurel b Yadav29

B. Stokes lbw b Yadav0

B. Foakes b Ashwin24

T. Hartley c Padikkal b Ashwin6

M. Wood c Rohit b Ashwin0

S. Bashir not out11

J. Anderson c Padikkal b Ashwin0

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-1, NB-2)5

TOTAL (all out, 57.4 overs)218

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-64 (Duckett), 2-100 (Pope), 3-137 (Crawley), 4-175 (Bairstow), 5-175 (Root), 6-175 (Stokes), 7-183 (Hartley), 8-183 (Wood), 9-218 (Foakes)

BOWLING: Bumrah 13-2-51-0 (2nb), Siraj 8-1-24-0, Ashwin 11.4-1-51-4, Yadav 15-1-72-5, Jadeja 10-2-17-1

INDIA (1st Innings)

Y. Jaiswal st Foakes b Bashir57

R. Sharma not out52

S. Gill not out26

EXTRAS 0

TOTAL (for one wicket, 30 overs)135

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-104 (Jaiswal)

STILL TO BAT: D. Padikkal, R. Jadeja, S. Khan, D. Jurel, R. Ashwin, K.

Yadav, M. Siraj, J. Bumrah

BOWLING: Anderson 4-1-4-0, Wood 3-0-21-0, Hartley 12-0-46-0, Bashir 11-2-64-1UMPIRES: Joel Wilson (West Indies), Rod Tucker (Australia)

TV UMPIRE: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka)

MATCH REFEREE: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand)

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2024