Kuldeep, Ashwin help India bundle England out for 218

Sports

AFP
07 March, 2024, 04:05 pm
Last modified: 07 March, 2024, 04:13 pm
England collapsed from 175-3 after Zak Crawley's 79 and survived just 57.4 overs, the visitors having elected to bat first in their bid for a consolation win at the picturesque Dharamsala stadium.

Spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin shared nine wickets between them as India bowled out England for 218 on day one of the fifth Test on Thursday.

England collapsed from 175-3 after Zak Crawley's 79 and survived just 57.4 overs, the visitors having elected to bat first in their bid for a consolation win at the picturesque Dharamsala stadium.

Off-spinner Ashwin, in his landmark 100th Test, ended a brief resistance by Ben Foakes when he got the wicketkeeper-batsman out for 24 after tea and wrapped up the innings in the same over.

Kuldeep stood out with his left-arm wrist spin as he went past 50 Test wickets with figures of 5-72.

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

Jonny Bairstow joined Joe Root at the crease in his 100th Test and looked solid after he smashed Kuldeep for two sixes.

He went past 6,000 Test runs before Kuldeep got him caught behind off a googly that took the edge into the wicketkeeper's gloves, the dismissal upheld after a wasted England review. He made 29.

Ravindra Jadeja struck four balls later to trap Root lbw for 26 and the former captain burned another review.

England's last review was lost after skipper Ben Stokes was given out lbw off Kuldeep for nought, with the confirmation that the ball would hit leg stump giving him his fifth wicket.

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.

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

The same bowler then had Ollie Pope stumped for 11 on the stroke of lunch.

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

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