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England unravelled after Zak Crawley’s battling 79 as India left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav claimed five wickets and Ravichandran Ashwin, winning his 100th Test cap, four on the opening day of the fifth Test in Dharamsala.
From 175 for three, England lost three wickets in 13 balls and burned all three reviews as Jonny Bairstow, on his 100th Test appearance, and Ben Stokes fell to Kuldeep, with Joe Root lbw to Ravindra Jadeja.
Crawley had earlier overcome a probing opening spell from Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in helpful seaming conditions but was the first of six wickets to fall in a frenzied afternoon session, with five falling for just eight runs.
While Ben Foakes dug in to take England to 218, Ashwin hoovered up the lower order either side of tea on his landmark appearance.
England could take only one wicket, Shoaib Bashir having Yashasvi Jaiswal stumped for 57 after a mauling before Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill narrowed England’s paltry lead to 83 with nine India wickets left.
England left about 200 runs out there, ministers of their own demise, Zak Crawley probably apart. England’s openers have generally built a solid platform, a far more reliable double act than they’ve had for 10 years. But Pope’s century at Hyderabad and Root’s at Ranchi apart, Nos 3, 4, 5 and 6 have not contributed enough. You can’t lose five wickets for eight runs however good the opposition and expect to thrive. The bowling is a work in progress but its lack of penetration with the new ball is alarming.
Late in the day, Shoaib Bashir was hit for six, but England’s fielders all applauded, so it must have been part of the plan. There were bum pats all round at stumps, and they looked a team determined not to let on what a tough day they have had. That is one of their mantras, but their aversion departure lounge syndrome will be tested over the next couple of days.
Stokes ends the day with some uptown funk, placing an umbrella of three short covers for Gill. The right-hander pokes a drive for two then slog sweeps for six, applauded by his captain who knows England are trying to taunt him into a rash shot.
India have been magnificent, England garbage generally from the moment Pope went wandering. Bad pontiff.
England lead by 83.
Gill flicks a single off his legs and Shoaib ends the day with 11-2-64-1 on a day of utter dominance for India.
My pictures have been restored in time to see Rohit sweep Hartley for a single and Gill take the strike off the final ball with a leg-side whip. Two overs to go in the day. India trail by 92.
Live footage is still off so we listen to the crowd and Nick Knight. Bashir resumes with five dot balls to Gill, not afraid to give it some air. Actually make that six as he banks a second maiden after the Jaiswal mauling.
Still no pictures and TNT Sports is in the odd position, at least on the app, of having a muted studio discussion while we listen to the TV commentary.
Rohit takes a single to cover despite being squared up, Gill chops a cut for another single.
TNT Sports has lost the live visual feed so all we have is the audio running. Bashir nurdles a single into the onside and Gill collars Bashir with a steepling slog sweep for six!
Gill climbs into Hartley’s long hop and pulls it flat and hard for four in front of square. The rest of the over is respectable, varying pace and line but every England spinner since Swann’s retirement in 2013 has been plagued by one four-ball per over disease, however well they have done in terms of wickets.
Gill gets off the mark when Bashir reads the batsman’s feet wrong and thinks he’s on the charge. But he stays in the crease and when Bashir sprays one wide to try for the legside stumping, he pops it fine for four.
Rohit has a long chat with Gill as if to emphasise this is no time for pyrotechnics or risks with half an hour left. Rohit takes his own medicine, defending cautiously before whisking the final ball for a single throughs square leg.
Bashir continues and Jaiswal cuts two then carves another four to bring up yet another fifty. Bashir goes fuller and Jaiswal sweeps him for four but, full of beans, heart pumping, thinking himself indomitable, he premeditates and pays the price. Canny, brave bowling.
The trumpeter plays Cornershop’s No 1 single which, I belive, has been adapted to ‘Brimful of Bashir’.
Jaiswal st Foakes b Bashir 57 Drunk on runs and his own talent after hitting successive fours, he skips down as Bashir tosses one deceptively wider and is stranded when Foakes whips off the bails. He’s absolutely livid. FOW 104/1
England finally get their breakthrough with the ball, Yashasvi Jaiswal departs on 57!Watch #INDvENG LIVE on TNT Sports and @discoveryplusuk 📺 pic.twitter.com/lhjLTm8dJq
Rohit takes Stokes’ bait and tries to hit Hartley over mid-on, succeeding but no’ but just as Anderson leaps but can’t get a finger to it. If only he’d had a bucket to stand on. The ball clears him and races away for four.
Jaiswal becomes only the second India to make 700 runs in a series (Sunil Gavaskar did it twice). Swift on his feet, he chasses down the pitch to smear an on-drive for four off Bashir then takes a nice stride to the pitch and closes his wrists to work four more through midwicket. A fine, diving stop by Anderson saves a third boundary and earns him a solo ovation from his captain, who raises his arms above his head to clap his efforts.
Just the single off another tidy Hartley over, Jaiswal chastising it down through long-on.
Graeme Swann points out that Shoaib Bashir is not driving his bowling arm across his body with enough snap, ‘finishing his action properly’. It’s costing him bounce and turn. It has been a steep learning curve for him. He must be tired after bowling more overs than in any three-match spell in his career and also has a problem with his spinning finger. They milk him for five singles.
Indian batsmen, in general, do get out to spinners sometimes – hence Tom Hartley taking 20 wickets in the first four Tests. The difference is that they play their confident shots and score plenty of runs before they do get out, like those three driven sixes by Yashasvi Jaiswal against Shoaib Bashir.
A restorative drink and Hartley keeps them down to two singles, both into the offside.
Jaiswal sweeps hard off Bashir for four and brings up his 1000th Test run in only his ninth Test. Two double centuries plus that 171 in West Indies in debut. He is averaging 72 and has hit 29 sixes. Time for a drink. Absinthe all round for England.
A greasy pie from Hartley, a proper long hop that Rohit climbs into and clobbers over long on for six. He drops short again next ball and Rohit carves it for two through point. India have an appetite for destruction and there’s nothing England can do about it. We’re looking at a 2½ day Test I fear.
Bashir pins Rohit on the slog sweep but it hit him outside the line of off stump even though the off break would have turned back in to hit off stump. Just the single off the over.
Rohit has been made to look uncomfortable by the spinners but then devours a drag-down from Hartley and leans back to clip it off his pads for four. Cow corner is open so he RSVPs Stokes’ invitation to swipe across the line and launch it over midwicket for four.
Missed the bottom right corner of the toe by 3cm.
Rohit c Foakes b Hartley On the slog sweep. Rod Tucker shook his head but Ben Foakes and Joe Root were adamant he hit it.
England appeal for a pair of acrobatic bat-pad snaffles by Pope off Rohit but the umpire’s finger stays holstered. One looked closer to the gloves than the other but England choose not to review. Because of his height, Shoaib looks far more threatening to the right-hander than he did to the left-handed Jaiswal. And after a mauling he sticks a maiden in the book.
Hartley applies the brakes and concedes only three singles which counts as a triumph.
One of the things England like about Shoaib Bashir is his phlegmatic nature. Well, he’s going to need it here, after Jaiswal minced him for three sixes in his first over. Smart batting to take down the kid, and try to force England back to the veteran seamers…
Jaiswal demolishes Bashir with three sixes, the first hard and flat harpooned over long off, the second flat-batted over cover and the third dumped over long on. Blimey, this kid. He’s closing in on 700 runs for the series. Look at the company he would be keeping if he did. It seems to me as if he’ll have only one knock in this match.
England’s decent first half of the day feels a very long time ago right now. Yes, there is a long way to go, but has England’s dam wall broken? They were chipper going into this game and have competed hard with India all tour, but this has a nasty feel about it.
Astute as ever from Will. It has looked like a Test too far since about 6am when Pope went walkabout.
Turn pretty much straightaway for the tall left-armer from over the wicket, one turning and bouncing dramatically to beat the inside edge and zip into the pads. Hartley preserves the score with five dot balls before Jaiswal farms the strike with an on-drive for a single. After 4-1-4-0 from Anderson, Bashir will replace him.
Jaiswal works a single into the legside when Anderson opts for full and straight and Rohit probes the infield or defends for no return. England would have been hoping for something a little better than this start though the pitch did liven up for a short spell with the new ball after the effects of the roller had worn off this morning.
Tom Hartley will replace Wood.
No bat, all pad. The first Joel Wilson has got wrong.
Rohit c Foakes b Anderson Sent it upstairs straightway suggesting the legside strangle was off the pad.
Rohit is seeing it like a beach ball and hammers an on-drive off Wood for four and an off-drive off the back foot for two. Just gentle swing for Wood if he pitches it up and it sits up nicely if he goes short. His super-power is negated by the pitch and the quality of the batsmen in these conditions. Rohit has hit the ball so hard it’s gone out of shape. Wood hopes for better fortune as Stokes brings in a second cover and reduces the cordon to three slips, signalling a spell of corridor bowling.
Jaiswal also goes up en pointe to punch off the back foot, this time for two. Anderson racks up five dot balls either side, still a master of probing length and line but he is up against a very special talent.
Rohit hooks Wood for a towering six over long leg, circling his bat like a gyroscope to hit it up. The next ball is short again and the right-hander gets up on to his toes to lash it behind square as if he were Gordon Greenidge for four. Who would imagine Rahul Dravid, that most classical of batsmen, being the architect of ‘Razball’ as coach of this new India Test team.
India’s seamers moved the ball around impressively but were still wicketless. Anderson is bowling well, too, but may go the same way. Jaiswal treats him with the respect he commands, despite the blond highlights. He inside edges one defensive into his pads but he plays out the rest of the maiden stoutly with the middle of his bat.
Wood opts for swing rather than bounce, bowling full at 149 kph. Jaiswal works a single through midwicket and Wood throws himself off his feet as he goes short to Rohit who covers the angle and pats it into the legside. Rohit gets off the mark stylishly, cracking a back-foot drive on the up for four. Neither Arthur or Martha that delivery. Too short to swing, too full to threaten the body.
Jimmy Anderson has the new ball and swings it from the start to the left-handed Jaiswal from over the wicket. He gets off the mark from the third ball with a drop and run into the covers. That single makes him the highest Indian scorer in a series against England, moving o 656 and above Virat from 2016-17.
Anderson keeps Rohit quiet with accuracy, bounce and swing. The India captain covers the swing but is then struck on the leading edge as he tries to turn one through midwicket.
India’s spinners have been excellent: Kuldeep has five for 72, Ashwin four for 51 and and Jadeja one for 17.
Crawley was beaten by a jaffa playing a very aggressive stroke but Duckett and Pope played daft shots, Root and Stokes were marooned on the back foot when they should have been playing forward, Bairstow couldn’t kick on for the umpteenth time and the tail was docked ruthlessly.
Andersin c Paddikal b Ashwin 0 Shovels a hoick to midwicket. FOW 218 all out.
He hit it.
Anderson lbw b Ashwin First ball. Hit the back pad.
Foakes b Ashwin 24 Misses a cut, the ball rattles into the pad, spits up on to the glove then spins back on to the stumps. It was like a Nathan Lyon dismissal, the bounce created by overspin rather than side spin. FOW 218/9
But Bumrah starts with the a song to the siren, a no-ball. Bashir takes the free run without playing a shot then whips a single off his pads. Foakes pulls with more toe than middle for four and, after Bumrah oversteps again and Foakes doubles England’s return off a cover drive, Bashir plays a lovely back-cut for four. Another 12-run over. England have been Rip van Winkle after tea …
Foakes has decided to be more positive now, or has been told to be, starting the evening session with a skip out of the hutch to whisk four through midwicket before sweeping Ashwin for a single. Bashir take England to 200 with a drive through cover and Foakes defends the carrom ball before using his feet again to flick two behind square off another one that was too short. Foakes ends the over with the beans still pumping and rocks back to pummel a pull for four more. Who is this man and what has he done to Ben Foakes?
Bumrah is brought back to nip this partnership in the bud.
🎙️ “It’s the same thing the whole series, England just have a real bad 45 minutes. There’ll be enough in this wicket if it continues to spin.”Sir Alastair Cook gives hope to England’s chances with the ball 🔴Watch #INDvENG LIVE on TNT Sports and @discoveryplusuk 📺 pic.twitter.com/cg2w1P3AaW
The fifth Test is running a familiar course. England’s openers made a good start without making it count. The spinners run through the middle order and Ben Foakes is strokeless with the tail.
A spell of five for eight in 36 balls, from 175-2 to 183-8, ripped the heart out of England and now we are in full on end of tour-itis territory.
Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Ben Stokes were all gone without the scoring changing from 175. Bairstow hit two sixes, went past 6,000 runs and was dropped twice in a frantic innings on his 100th Test.
Stokes was again stuck on the crease, out for a six ball duck, unable to read the flight and variations of wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who has a five for on day one of a Test and has tipped this series India’s way since being recalled after the defeat in Hyderabad.
It is practically unheard of for besieged batsmen to turn the tide in India against such quality spin bowling and England fell apart in the afternoon against Kuldeep, Ashwin and Jadeja who share all eight wickets to fall.
Zak Crawley played some superb shots in 79 but he was patchy after lunch, India failing to review a close in catch that would have been out and Jadeja missing a caught and bowled in his first over.
Kuldeep beat Crawley in the flight with a beauty that dipped, turned and hit the stumps. Root, Bairstow and Stokes all burned reviews as England again paid for a madcap half hour. Tom Hartley slogged one in the air and Mark Wood added another, propping forward and edging to slip. You can’t blame Foakes but 8 off 33 balls is probably not going to do his long term chances any good either with this management unless he tries something different after tea.
Foakes skelps a single through midwicket and walks off for tea.
England have lost six for 92 in the session. And have lost the Test, one would think, barring Mark Wood drinking form the Devon Malcolm cup.
A slightly less frantic over as Ashwin torments the two right-handers with turn and bounce. Foakes tries to turn two singles to midwicket and succeeds second time round, the first went to cover off a leading edge. Bashir uses his feet to work one into the legside.
Foakes goes one ball deeper before haring up the other end with a single off Jadeja tapped to cover. Bashir flicks off his legs and strikes short leg on the wrist, a technical chance but a 2/10 probability of it sticking.
Foakes again takes a single off Ashwin’s third ball and leaves Bashir to keep out three from one of the greatest spinners in history. After surviving two, the second of which pins him with an off-break that was just missing legs tump, Bashir drags a slog sweep for four.
Still only three 50+ scores from England’s 3-7 in the 5 Tests in India. Won’t win many series like that: India’s spinners (and Bumrah) have just been too good
Foakes takes a run off the third ball. The No7 playing for a red-inker, it seems. He has to take most of the balls now, surely. We all know the jig is up but even so, exposing Bashir to this is not wise. Indeed he nicks the last ball of the over and Jurel puts it down. It flew at him but, in the words of Andy ‘glass half empty’ Hinchcliffe, ‘he would have expected to take that’.
The pitch report suggested 400 would be about par but England have collapsed disastrously. Out-spun, out-thought and thoroughly out-played. Another fine start squandered. England have lost five wickets for eight runs off 37 balls.
Wood c Rohit b Ashwin 0 Pushes out and nicks off to slip second ball. FOW 183/8
Ravi Ashwin gets his second wicket of the day in his 100th Test, India are flying in Dharamshala!Watch #INDvENG LIVE on TNT Sports and @discoveryplusuk 📺 pic.twitter.com/Eq16Skr0s9
Hartley c Padikkal b Ashwin 6 Takes the pace off to gull Hartley into the slog sweep, top edging it to wide long on who takes a good catch 2m in from the rope. Ashwin has a wicket in his hundredth Test. FOW 183/7
Maiden for Jadeja to Foakes and the infield is buoyant, chirping and squealing at every defensive shot, sowing distrust.
Three for nought in 13 balls – the middle order slinking out of here without trace. Kuldeep has five on the first day of a Test and England are totally unable to read his variations and flight. Bairstow, Root and Stokes burnt three reviews in vain and are tired, ready for home. It is rare for touring batsmen to perform a stirring revival in India, once the spinners are all over you it is impossible to shake them off. This Test could be done and dusted on day one.
Rohit, surprisingly, sends Kuldeep for a breather and brings back Ashwin. The prospect of a respite from that beastly googly sends Hartley giddy and he trots down to Ashwin and has an ugly swipe, Harrow driving for a single off the inside edge. Foakes pushes a single to long on to get off strike.
A single apiece for Foakes and Jadeja as England and their vast support have to give their heads a shake to stop them reeling.
They can’t pick Kuldeep’s googly because he has sharpened his pace and line which gives him the ability to skid it on.
The last ball is a bit short so Hartley spanks it straight for four.
Kuldeep Yadav has been such a delight to watch this series. Indeed, I suspect that he has every chance of being India’s first choice spinner, ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin, when India tour Australia at the end of the year. Ravindra Jadeja will get in regardless: effectively picked as a batting allrounder when India travel.
Stokes lbw b Kuldeep 0 Pinned by the googly on the back foot. England lose three wickets for no runs and all three reviews on a wing and a prayer. The ‘engine room’ has exploded. FOW 175/6
KULDEEP 5️⃣ The collapse continues, this time it’s Ben Stokes with a failed review and he’s gone for a duck 🫣Watch #INDvENG LIVE on TNT Sports and @discoveryplusuk 📺 pic.twitter.com/JQQSZaifU2
Stokes lbw b Kuldeep Again, looks plumb. Height maybe?
One has to remove one’s (beanie) hat to Jadeja who beats Root with a big off-break on the outside edge then beats him and dismisses him with the fizzing arm-ball next up. Foakes put on a good stand with Ollie Pope in Hyderabad and Joe Root in Ranchi. England need him to gel with his captain here.
Root lbw b Jadeja 26 Root burns England’s second review. Gulled by the arm-ball skidding on and pinning him on the bent front knee. Would have hit the heart of leg stump. England’s ship is sinking.
It’s all going wrong for England’s middle order as the review doesn’t save Joe Root 😬Watch #INDvENG LIVE on TNT Sports and @discoveryplusuk 📺 pic.twitter.com/9INkiha3Tv
Root lbw b Jadeja Looks dead.
Bairstow hammers Kuldeep for his second six, carting him over midwicket but is gulled by the drift to nick off two balls later. Another attractive cameo but his team needed more today. England are in danger once again of digging the foundations of a match-defining partnership but the house topples before they get to the second storey.
Kuldeep has all four and Joel Wilson has three correct calls.
Bairstow c Jurel b Kuldeep 29 Feathered it through to the keeper. He didn’t think he had hit it and hit the ground instead so sent it upstairs but there was a scratch on the graph. FOW 175/4
Root cuts Jadeja hard for four. But plays out the rest of the over
Kuldeep overpitches and Bairstow tucks in as if it was a Yorkshire pudding rammed full of onion gravy, smacking it back over the spinner’s head for six then gorges on the shorter one, filleting point for three. Root works a single off his legs and Bairstow ends the over with a life when he chisels out a virtual yorker and flogs it back up the pitch. Kuldeep, surprised by the power, throws out his hands but cannot cling on.
Rohit brings up silly point for Root to Jadeja. Root defends with soft hands, not entirely off the middle of the bat but no glimmer yet for the catcher. After some patient defence, Root is given an, ahem, escape route when Jadeja overpitches and he drives down to long off for a single.
Bairstow ends the over and heralds the arrival of drinks by opening his stance to flog a drive off the toe through mid-on for four, only just out of his reach. Power saves him but his timing was awry.
Drinks.
Bairstow has a short leg in and a leg gully for Kuldeep but beats both when the spinner drops short and he cuffs it for a single. Kuldeep is grunting as loudly as Monica Seles when he gives it a rip. Root defends a couple and then works a single off his pads.
A single apiece off the opening two balls of Jadeja’s second over, both struck to the cover sweeper, followed by four dot balls of cat and mouse, Root scurrying on to the back foot, looking for gaps but not finding any as he defends when he has to and probes when he can.
In comes Jonny Bairstow in his 100th Test and he gets off the mark with a flick off Kuldeep’s stock ball for two past short leg’s right hand and then shuffles back to work the turn down to fine leg for four. Had he missed he may well have been plumb, hence Kuldeep’s exasperation. But he didn’t and he wasn’t.
Crawley is gone! Done by huge turn from Kuldeep for the second innings in a row. Terrific knock, continuing a very good run. This is an outstanding spell from Kuldeep, who has all three wickets and is bowling with such control.
Crawley b Kuldeep 79 Has to settle for another ‘daddy fifty’. Went for the big drive which has brought him the vast majority of his runs but was gated by the leg-break, the left-armer tossing it high enough to catch a ride on the breeze before ragging square between bat and pad. Pitched outside off and hit leg stump. FOW 137/3
Zak Crawley goes for 79 and that makes it THREE wickets for Kuldeep Yadav!Watch #INDvENG LIVE on TNT Sports and @discoveryplusuk 📺 pic.twitter.com/bT6Z7YY0Cr
Surely that was the ball of the series, when Kuldeep Yadav bowled Zak Crawley, overtaking the Jasprit Bumrah yorker that bowled Ollie Pope. It had everything.
And Jadeja almost makes the breakthrough when Crawley smacks a drive back up the pitch. Jadeja leaps to thrwo a mitt at it but can only tip it over the bar for a single. He gives the fingers a blow to take the sting away but it;s his heart that is suffering more. The greatest fielder in India’s history would have expected to hang on, however blisteringly Crawley smoked that at him.
Kuldeep pushes one wider and Crawley misjudges the turn, nicking it wide of the slips for two then rocks back to cut a single. Root is playing him mainly off the back foot and after a couple of busy, probing shots into the offside, is made a gift of a drag down and Root hammers it on one knee for four.
They have seen Bumrah’s second spell off. Rohit turns to Jadeja.
Back-to-back maidens for India as Bumrah runs through his lengths from angled bouncer to yorker with three inswingers and an outswinger to accompany them. Root misses out on the bouncer, pulling it hard but straight at square leg who prevents stops any reward.
This is Crawley’s 18th score of 50 or more but the king of the ‘Daddy Fifty’ as celebrated by ‘What is Zak Crawley doing?’ on X has actually never been dismissed between 77 and 121. So getting three more runs could be like crossing Lethe. But not in this over as he plays out a Kuldeep maiden diligently.
Big appeal for a strangle as Crawley flicks at Bumrah’s inswinger. Jurel thinks he hit it, Sarfaraz doesn’t. There was certainly a sound … thighpad.
Crawley opens the face to steer his 12th boundary wide of the slips with more than a hint of edge. That short midwicket almost buys a wicket again but for the third time a legside flick off the inswinger just falls short. Crawley farms the strike with a tip and run to cover.
Root shuffles back to flick a single off Kuldeep, Crawley push-drives a single down to long-on.
Two-card trick from Bumrah after the inswinger, a peach of an outswinger to Root. Thinking it was coming in, he plants his feet to drive but it shapes away from the edge as Bumrah suppresses a yelp. Two inswingers follow, Root tickling the first down to fine leg for a single. The second hoops wildly, beating Crawley’s back and Jurel’s dive to race down for two byes.
Crawley slaps a rare Kuldeep full toss for two before being pinned on the sweep by one that pitched outside leg. Big appeal but it wasn’t even hitting the stumps no matter where it pitched. Crawley defends a couple then takes a stride to ease a drive through cover, a stroke not a shot, caressing the over-pitched one to the rope.
Class from Root to use Bumrah’s inswing to rotate his wright wrist and skelp four behind square. He avoids the legside strangle off an even bigger inswinger with the faintest of tickles that deflects it wide of Jurel’s drive for four more. Normally the outswinger would end the over but this one also veers in before seaming away and Root misjudges the line spooning it just short of point.
Big turn from Kuldeep who is ripping his fingers across the seam. He beats Root through the gate with his leg-break that whistles past off stump but England’s No4 uses his crease again next ball to hang back and use the turn to pat a single into the onside. Crawley also rocks back to drill two through cover.
Zak Crawley survives as India chose not to review this 👀Watch #INDvENG LIVE on TNT Sports and @discoveryplusuk 📺 pic.twitter.com/DZg1ePXYzf
Root plays his favourite singe-accumulator, opening the face to glide the ball down to third man for a single. Crawley is tested from over the wicket with Numrah moving the ball both ways, squaring him up then attacking the channel. He survives the ordeal.
When the snick off Kuldeep’s last over is shown on the big screen, Rohit nods at Sarfaraz to acknowledge his mistake. Kuldeep gives his captain a Paddington Bear stare.
Jasprit Bumrah straight back into the attack for Joe Root. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Root’s only innings of note came with Bumrah out of the team.
Three balls left of the pre-lunch last over and Root is off the mark straightaway, hunkering on to the back foot to flick a single into the legside. Big appeal for a catch at short leg when Crawley shapes to flick. The ball hit Jurel’s glove and was pouched by Sarfaraz diving headlong. The catcher wants to send it upstairs, Jurel doesn’t and Rohit is persuaded by the keeper not to burn another.
But … there was a snick. Just a faint one but a spike on the graph nonetheless.
Bumrah will be back now Root’s in.
Ollie Pope stumped before lunch on day one was such a characteristic dismissal, summing up the tour for England.
Pope is known as a skittish starter but it is because he is a poor player of high quality spin. Watch him against pace and it is different. He charged at Kuldeep, missed the googly and was stumped by a mile with three balls to go before lunch. It was a gimme wicket for India after a good morning for England led by Zak Crawley.
A skip down the pitch to wallop Ashwin for six by Crawley had earlier shown how it can be done. Crawley is sitting at lunch on 61, his fourth 50 of the series and he really has emerged as England’s most consistent player over the past eight months, enjoying good series against India and Australia.
A year ago he left the NZ tour with his place under scrutiny and his head full of doubt but McCullum and Stokes kept faith, recognising the talent he possesses. He puts away the best bowlers better than anyone and knocked India’s seamers off the lengths when it was nipping around in the first hour.
Another 50 stand with Duckett – their tenth in 30 innings – owed a bit to luck as the ball beat the bat and it was Crawley who looked far more assured. Duckett fell to Kuldeep, caught slicing him over midwicket, and like Pope has had a frustrating tour playing one incredible innings but little else.
Crawley had some good fortune, consecutive leading edges off Burmah landed safely, but he unfurled some drives as serene as this venue showing what a good pitch it is to bat on. England are in the game.
England had to dig deep and were rewarded for their grit by surviving, sometimes by the skin of their teeth, against a swinging ball. But two misjudgements have made gifts of two wickets to India. It’s been a good session for England but it could have been so much better. If Stokes is minded to consider himself fit to bowl, his swing would be very valuable for his side.
Pope st Jurel b Kuldeep 11 A daft dismissal given he can’t read Kuldeep at all. He danced down, was utterly diddled by the googly, played down the wrong line and was stranded by a metre. Came all that way just to play a defensive stroke? High risk. Stay off the dancefloor if you ain’t got the moves. FOW 100/2
Disaster for England on the stroke of lunch as Ollie Pope is gone for 11 😖Watch #INDvENG LIVE on TNT Sports and @discoveryplusuk 📺 pic.twitter.com/iBj45dpFu9
Magnificent from Crawley to use his feet against Ashwin and, in a triumph of nerve and skill, to flay him back over his head for six! It forces Ashwin to retreat to round the wicket and Crawley uses the new line to crouch back and flick a single off his legs.
One more over until lunch.
A lot is made of Ollie Pope’s skittishness at the start of innings, which has been so evident on this tour. I think it is because he is a shaky player of good spin bowling, rather than the espresso, red bull adrenaline rush. If he comes in facing pace, he is calmer.
Fifty for Zak Crawley, his fourth on tour, The opener raises it with his ninth boundary, smearing Kuldeep between extra-cover and mid-off for four. Pope scuffs a single off his pads and Crawley opens the face to steer a single behind square on the offside.
Pope hops back sharply to clatter a cut for a single, Crawley whips Ashwin off his toes for another and Pope follows suit, this time for three. Would have been four save for Padikkal’s dogged pursuit. Crawley, as in the preceding over, caps it with a four, this one streakier, more slice than full-blooded drive, over cover.
Pope works a single off his toes into the legside off Kuldeep. Rohit usually treats Kuldeep like an errant child but is convinced this time by his entreaties to review Joel Wilson’s call. For the second time in 100 minutes of play, the much derided Wilson is vindicated by DRS.
Crawley is pinned when sweeping by a ball that pitched outside leg but ends the over using the length of those basketballer’s arms to drill four through cover.
Big stride from Crawley and dramatic turn back in to the right-hander. Would have missed, according to ball-tracking, by 5cm. India lose one of their three reviews.
Crawley lbw b Kuldeep Looked as if it did too much.
Pope busily works a pair of singles through midwicket and the next straighter off Ashwin. Crawley also works one through midwicket.
Kuldeep torments His Holiness, beating him with the googly that fizzes past the outside edge. There’s one gimme in the over when Kuldeep drops short but he can’t pierce the field. He finally gets off strike … or not as it’s the last ball of the over he works off his toes for a single.
Pope starts frantically, as has become the norm, popping his first ball just wide of short leg for a single. Crawley, tied down by four dot balls, cuffs a sweep off the splice or possibly thumb for a single.
England supporters need to thank the Zak effect for seeing off the opening spells of India’s pace bowlers. They pitched too short overall, given the generous swing, and that length must have been due partly to the threat of Crawley’s long reach and front foot drives.
Kuldeep is let down by the General Secretary of the Indian Union of Spinners and Amalgamated Twirlers, Ashwin diving over Crawley’s back-foot square drive at backward point and letting it scuttle under him for four. Crawley opens the face to steer a single down to third man and Duckett rocks back to smack the googly off his back foot between bowler and mid-on for for four. But he falls when trying to go big again.
That is a really outstanding catch from Shubman Gill, who had to run miles back. Duckett, I suspect, will be very annoyed with that, because the drill down the ground is not really one of his shots. Kuldeep, who has had a wonderful series, drew the mistake by bowling fuller and fuller to him.
Duckett c Gill b Kuldeep 27 Takes on the googly and slices it. Aiming for cow corner he skies it over cover and Shubman takes a fantastic catch, having to turn and sprint towards the boundary to take it at full stretch. FOW 64/1
BREAKTHROUGH FOR INDIA!A brilliant catch from Shubham Gill sees Ben Duckettgone for 27.Watch #INDvENG LIVE on TNT Sports and @discoveryplusuk 📺 pic.twitter.com/rXC5j5X3f9
Ashwin plugs the gap at fine leg to stop Duckett’s paddle-plunder. Duckett uses the front foot instead to carve a single uppishly down to the point sweeper and Crawley also rides his luck by dancing down the pitch, deceived by dip, and flicking it just wide of short leg’s outstretched right arm for a single. Flawless it ain’t but this has been a very gritty and valuable stand.
Kuldeep will replace Siraj.
Bumrah, the senior man who missed seven months last year with injury, is given a breather but not Siraj. Given the swing they will have to prise the ball out of his paws. Crawley tucks a single off the hip and Duckett pats another off his pads. The effect of the roller seems to be wearing off as there are definite signs of attractive bounce in this over but Siraj’s line is too erratic.
England are settling in as Zak Crawley brings up four no.5 of the morning 🙌Watch #INDvENG LIVE on TNT Sports and @discoveryplusuk 📺 pic.twitter.com/3gKxHvRFMZ
Duckett paddles Ashwin’s second ball over his shoulder for four to bring up the half-century partnership, their 12th in Tests in 30 innings together.
Ashwin varies flight and length to keep Duckett in two minds about which foot to play off. The infield does its job and stops singles at mid-off and twice at cover.
Siraj resumes with a maiden from his seventh over, starting too short but ending with another properly short one that Crawley pivots to pull but misjudges the bounce, his bat helicoptering above the ball that hits him on the shoulder.
After 14 overs from the seamers, Rohit throws the ball to Ashwin for his first dart in his 100th Test.
That was the kind of first hour you see at Test grounds in England, not India; the ball swinging, seaming and beating the outside edge regularly, with the odd wonderful drive thrown in, mainly from Zak Crawley. Somehow India have not taken a wicket in that passage of play which could be crucial because this is a good pitch for batting with a bit of pace and carry. England could build a big one here. Burmah was exceptional, seaming and swinging the ball at high pace beating Crawley all ends up with one that flew over the top of middle. Two leading edges in consecutive balls by Crawley off Bumrah summed up India’s luck.
Duckett rides his luck once more as Bumrah angles one in from round the wicket that jags away, strikes the edge by the maker’s name and rattles between third slip and gully for four. Bumrah beats him with the next ball and again two balls later with one he had to play at as it jack-knifed away from his edge. Time for drinks.
Siraj starts by nailing his outswinger that kisses Crawley’s edge and squirts away for an unintended single. Duckett works a single off his toes behind square leg and Crawley lamps his fifth off-/ cover-driven boundary. Siraj almost bags the last laugh with his big inswinger but it did too much.
Good shout. Umpire’s call on the top of leg stump by a ball delivered from very wide on the crease. Thought there might have been an inside edge but it hit both pads.
Crawley lbw b Siraj Looked close but it’s Joel Wilson’s call …
Bumrah continues for a sixth over round the wicket to Duckett. The openers know that if they see him off it will make life so much easier for the men who follow. It’s a traditional openers’ mentality that hasn’t always been to the fore as these two have blazed a trail since Rawalpindi 15 months ago. Duckett plays tip and run to cover for a single, Crawley adjusts late to prod the inswinger off his pads. Bumrah kisses Duckett’s edge but the ball trickles to gully and then beats him with a very full away swinger. It has been seat of the pants stuff at times but the main thing is that they’re still here.
Duckett skelps Siraj through square leg for a single and then the right-arm quick pitches the next one up and Crawley strokes it handsomely through mid-off for four. Siraj won’t mind, Two degrees more swing and that would have been dangerous. Indeed the next ball is fuller and moves more and Crawley goes for the encore but plays and misses.
Bumrah pitches up and Crawley plants the big dog and creams him between cover and mid-off for four. Shot! Still swinging but only the odd one is carrying above the keeper’s knees.
Crawley drops his hands to steer two of one that moves away then misjudges the shape of the legcutter and spoons it over the umpire for two, short of mid-on.
Sanjay Manjrekar, I think, says England’s problems are stemming from playing off the front foot and that Sunil Gavaskar would have countered the swing off the back foot. Hmm. Might work for Diddy Duckett but Crawley is 2ft taller than wee Gavaskar.
Duckett works Siraj for two but then adopts the fatalistic approach of throwing the bat, playing and missing at yhe last after a big wind-up.
Goodness me. Another peach from Bumrah that angles in from over the wicket on to middle and then spits away from Crawley, beating the edge and clearing the off bail by no more than a gnat’s whisker. All Crawley can do is smile. Too good for thee … too good for anyone. The next ball follows a similar trajectory from the hand but doesn’t shape away as much and it rockets off the edge past gully for four.
Crawley, as he did in Ranchi, seems to be of the mood that one of these balls has his name on it so is going to try to shift the momentum, having a big wafty drive at the next that hoops past the edge.
The fourth ball of that Bumrah over has to be one of the greatest never to take a wicket! It jagged like a leg break past Crawley’s gaping outside edge and over the middle stump. Quite incredible. It’s been a superb opening burst from India’s seamers, and England have had to curb their natural attacking instincts.
Siraj at last gives Duckett some width and he cashes in, smearing it off the front foot in front of point for four. he flicks the straighter one aerially for the second time in three overs but again it falls just short of Rohit who has stationed himself at short midwicket.
Must be warming up as Rohit calls for the 12th man, ‘Twelfthers’ in one of Brian Johnson’s lesser used designations, to come on and collect his jumper.
The slips have come in really close for Siraj, who got no bounce in the first over. I like the very close midwicket that Rohit – who had a pop at Duckett yesterday – has posted himself at. Reckon he’s in the game.
What a beauty from Bumrah, a fullish outswinger that beats him at the last as it shapes away late. Yelps of anguish from the cordon, followed by laughter at Duckett’s exceedingly close shave. Two more outswingers follow as Bumrah tries to set him up for the inswinger but when it comes it starts too straight and Duckett opens his stance to drive wide of mid-on for three.
Foakes is being frustrated. India know if they starve him of runs they ruin his flow. Siraj has a short midwicket and he almost reaps immediate dividends when Duckett pops one in the air off his pads but it dies short of the man. He defends the inswinger, is beaten by the outswinger and finally gets off the mark with a flick off his pads that midwicket, at full stretch, parries round the post.
Crawley is beaten by another jaffa that snakes past his edge as he pushed forward.
England’s middle order are watching on wearing chunky anoraks.
The left-hander plays and misses at the first that dies off a good length as it nibbles away then steers the next along the ground to gully’s left-hand. No run. The third is a ripper, pitching on middle and jagging away, whistling past the shoulder of the bat as Duckett squares up in defence on the back foot. That’s the first ball to climb properly. Must have landed flush on the seam.
Bumrah is trying to beat him with the inswinger or nip-backer but from round the wicket Duckett has lined that particular delivery up well so far. The last ball does too much, hits him on the outside flap as it arrowed down and they jog a leg-bye.
No bounce from t’other end for Siraj too. Crawley watches the first two creep down the corridor like wallflowers. Bored, perhaps, he throws everything but the kitchen sink at the fuller one which shapes away from his big yahoo of a drive. But he connects with the next one that stays truer and creams it through extra-cover for four. Siraj comes back with a lovely outswinger that screams past the edge as Crawley’s bat doesn’t go through the perpendicular. Signs of swing, then, but no nibble. Two genuine play and misses and one textbook cover drive. Duckett will finally get a hit at the start of the third over.
The first ball is in the slot and does precisely nothing, no alarming bounce or carry. Crawley, wearing a sleeveless sweater, lets it go as he does the next two which reach Jurel at shin height. The England opener is forced to play at the fourth that is angled in to him, inside edging it on to his thigh-pad. No short leg but three slips and a gully. Can’t see third slip being needed given the evidence of the bounce so far. Famous last words …
After leaving another, Crawley tucks in to the only full ball of the over, clipping it off his toes square for three.
And leads India on to the field. Jasprit Bumrah has the new ball.
It is 10C this morning at the moment and should rise to about 14C by mid afternoon, very pleasant really for us. The weather forecasts up in the mountains are just a starting point for discussion, ignore them. Not many fans in at the moment but it is a tricky place to get to with tight narrow roads that get easily jammed and cows refusing to give way.
Good morning from Dharamsala, where it’s cloudy and cool. England have won the toss and opted to bat on what they believe to be a flat pitch. Those overheads might help India’s seamers, mind.
Bit of team news from both sides camps. Let’s start with India, who have handed out yet another cap, to the exciting young batsman Devdutt Padikkal. He replaces Rajat Patidar, who has been a bit of a passenger in the last three games but is ruled out with an ankle injury. That might be that for him in Test cricket, sadly. The other change sees Jasprit Bumrah back in place of Akash Deep, last week’s debutant.
England are as advertised, with Shoaib Bashir overcoming his stomach bug to play. Ollie Robinson hasn’t, though, which means England have just two available sub fielders in the squad, so Marcus Trescothick and Paul Collingwood will be in the whites and, wait for it, available to field! Collingwood is 47 and Trescothick 48.
It is a long and winding road to the cricket stadium in Dharamsala, a bit like Jonny Bairstow’s career to this point. There was a lengthy presentation in the huddle this morning to mark his 100th cap. His old mate Joe Root gave a speech, and Jonny spoke himself. His mother Janet was invited to the huddle along with sister Becky, partner Megan and their baby son. Yesterday Jonny was blessed by the Dalai Lama A couple of weeks ago Ben Stokes described his 100th Test as just “a number”. Jonny has a bit more romance in his soul and a personal story that helps you understand why it means so much to him.
Devdutt Padikall makes his debut in place of the injured Rajat Patidar while Jasprit Bumrah comes back for Akash Deep.
India Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikal, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
And will bat first. It’s 7C in Dharamshala this morning with the possibility of rain later this afternoon.
England named their team early, making one change: Mark Wood replaces Ollie Robinson.
England Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (captain), Ben Foakes (wk), Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir, Jams Anderson.
India From: Rohit Sharma (capt), Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.
Umpires Joel Wilson and Rod Tucker. TV Kumar Dharmasena
Dead rubber victories that provided a silver lining/false dawn were once England’s speciality – The Oval in 1993,1997 and 2008, the bent Test at Centurion in 2000, the SCG in 2003 – but there haven’t been any since Kevin Pietersen’s maiden Test as captain nearly 16 years ago because they have tended, the odd truly competitive series apart, to veer from dominance to abject resignation ever since. And England have been neither dominant nor garbage on this tour. There have been some tremendous innings from Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett and Joe Root, notable contributions from Zak Crawley, Ben Stokes’ shrewd handling of a very callow attack, who have flourished under his leadership, and habitually brilliant glovework from Ben Foakes.
They have had opportunities to seize every Test and bend it to their will but their catching, India’s discovery of two batting talents for the ages in Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan, a coming of age Test innings from Shubman Gill, the enduring brilliance of their great spinners and the wonderful Jasprit Bumrah have edged it for a home side who are unbeaten in home series for 12 years. Yes, India have been rebuilding and have missed Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Mohammed Shami, but they still have five world-class players and that has been more than enough to compensate for the struggles of Rajat Patidar and Shreyas Iyer.
England feel they have taken a stride forward on tour and have certainly been an improvement of 2016 and 2021 where promising starts quickly dissipated on turning pitches and the defensiveness of the captaincies of Alastair Cook and Joe Root drifted towards defeatism. Stokes has not allowed that to happen. They may have fluffed their chances of shifting the momentum – Root’s shot in Rajkot, Ollie Robinson’s drop, Bumrah’s ability to blow up their engine room at Nos 4, 5 and 6 – but they have been in every game. No talk of ‘moral victories’ here to get up Australia’s noses. India have deserved to win the series but 3-2 would be a fairer reflection even if the bland-looking pitch and the bracing temperature in Himachal Pradesh suggests patience may be vital to England’s prospects. Winning the toss again, obviously, would help even if it didn’t lead to victory in Ranchi.
English