Fifth Test: Kuldeep Yadav bundles out England for 218 on day one

When he is in full cry there are few better sights in cricket than Kuldeep Yadav. He has a spring in his steps, he bounds into the crease and puts his entire body into delivering the ball. From there on, it’s like he has the ball on a string. It goes above the batman’s eyeline and then dips, dropping like a bird of prey that has its catch in sight.

On the first day of the fifth and final India-England Test at Dharamsala, Kuldeep hit his straps and he was irresistible. Once again, England had got off to a bright start, getting to 137 for 2 at a fast clip.

Zak Crawley, who was careful against the quick bowlers in an initial probing spell, settled in against the spinners, using his long reach to good effect. Kuldeep then produced a bit of magic, drawing the batsman forward and getting the ball to break sharply to defeat the bat and crash into the stumps. Crawley had made 79 of England’s runs at the time.


Ollie Pope was halfway down the pitch to Kuldeep when he was beaten in flight and off the surface for Dhruv Jurel to complete a simple stumping. Just moments earlier, Jurel could be heard on the stump mic foretelling this very mode of dismissal.

Ben Stokes, the final danger man on the list, has a tendency to hang back in his crease against the spinners, especially early in his innings and Kuldeep was keenly aware of this. The googly was out, pushed through a touch quicker, and Stokes was nailed in front of the stumps, giving Kuldeep his fifth wicket.

With Kuldeep forcing England up against the wall, Ravichandran Ashwin did his thing, mopping up the lower order to end with 4 for 51 in his 100th Test.

As the team left the field, Kuldeep (5 for 72) tossed the match ball to Ashwin as a keepsake. But, in a show of camaraderie, Ashwin was all smiles as he handed it back and allowed Kuldeep to lead the team off, ball held aloft towards the dressing room.

England had lost their last eight wickets for only 81 runs. Remarkably, they added no runs on 175 and lost Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Stokes in a passage of play that India bossed over.

That Kuldeep has played only 12 Tests since making his debut in 2017 shows you just how dominant India’s frontline spinners have been. Also, with India playing a lot of their home cricket in recent times on rank turners, accuracy was more at a premium than variation. In this series, to counter Bazball, the surfaces have been much less extreme and Kuldeep has revelled in the opportunities he has got.

In the course of his five-for, Kuldeep brought up 50 Test wickets, and did so in 1,871 balls, the fewest by any Indian. He was the second quickest to the mark in the history of the game, with only England’s Johnny Briggs getting there faster, off 1512 balls.

Once Kuldeep had done his thing, other record breakers set to work. Yashasvi Jaiswal brought up his 1000th Test run in only his 16th innings, two more than Vinod Kambli’s stunning mark. The landmark came up in Jaiswal’s ninth Test, and only Sir Don Bradman got there quicker, in his 7th Test.

Jaiswal also took his series tally to 712, the most by any Indian against England, going past Virat Kohli’s 655 made in 2016. Jaiswal’s mark is behind only Sunil Gavaskar’s 774 (in 1971) and 732 (in 1978-79) both of which were scored against West Indies.

A rush of blood cost Jaiswal (57) his wicket, but by then the opening stand was worth 104 and had put a serious dent in England’s chances. When stumps were drawn, India had reached 135 for 1 and trailed by only 83.

In a series that has been a see-saw affair, this was the first time a team had so completely dominated the first day of play. Once again, however, England had shown promise before India clawed their way back into the game.

With the pitch being on the slower side and not doing anything alarming yet, India will know they just need to put their heads down and bat long to ensure a 4-1 series result and valuable World Test Championship points.