Ravichandran Ashwin, one of the greatest match winners in Test cricket, hogged all the limelight as India and England entered the Dharamsala series finale. The visitors won the toss and opted to bat first in the fifth and final Test on Thursday. Then the narrative gets hijacked, by another spinner. Kuldeep Yadav, at the time of writing, was toying with England batters. (Scorecard |IND Vs ENG Day 1 Blog | Streaming | Preview | Cricket News)
With England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett slowly starting to exert their dominance after a cautious start, India captain Rohit Sharma needed a partnership breaker. The pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj had shown purpose but failed to intimidate, so thus the landmark man Ashwin.
Rohit then turned to Yadav, one of the unsung heroes of Indian cricket. Introduced into the attack in the 18th over, the left-arm spinner was greeted with a rude welcome -- a four to backward point thanks to a rather poor effort from Ashwin, who's turning for his 100th Test. And Crawley, the beneficiary.
Duckett also hit a four, off the fourth ball. But Yadav had the last laugh. A miscued shot from Duckett resulted in a thick top edge and Shubman Gill took a running catch. The first wicket down!
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Meanwhile, Zak Crawly continued to motor along and reached his fifty in the 24th over with a four off Kuldeep Yadav. England also reached 100 soon enough. Then Yadav teamed up with wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel to dismiss Ollie Pope.
The England vice-captain, at the stroke of lunch, was tempted by a length delivery to leave his line. Result, and easy stumping. England were two down.
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India earned a deserved Lunch break, but Kuldeep Yadav was not certainly satisfied. Soon after the break, the leggie produced a magical delivery to leave Zak Crawley flummoxed. Beaten by the turn, and the ball crashing into the wickets. A sight to behold.
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Then the 50th Test wicket arrived. Jonny Bairstow, also playing his 100th Test, was undone by the faintest of edges, and review won't even save him. Dhruv Jurel took a good take.
It was followed by the big wicket, trapping Ben Stokes in front. The England captain did use the review, but it proved to be a futile effort. That brought Kuldeep his fourth five-wicket haul in the 12th match.
Kuldeep, 29, made his Test debut against Australia in 2017 at the same venue. He now has 51 wickets.
Kuldeep, in the process, broke Axar Patel's record to become the quickest bowler (balls taken) to take 50 Test wickets in India. He took 1871 deliveries, as against Patel's 2205. Jasprit Bumrah (2520) is third.
