Zak Crawley top-scored for England with 79, but a middle-order collapse saw the tourists dismissed for 218 after winning the toss and batting first in the fifth and final Test of the series in Dharamsala; India closed on 135-1 after half-centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma
Thursday 7 March 2024 15:56, UK
Spin duo Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Ashwin took nine wickets between them to help India seize control against England on day one of the fifth and final Test of the series.
Zak Crawley anchored England's innings in the morning after they won the toss and chose to bat first, bringing up his fourth half-century of this tour before lunch in Dharamsala.
The dismissals of Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope in the morning slightly checked their progress, and Crawley got a reprieve early in the afternoon when he was given not out when India chose not to review an appeal for caught when replays suggested a thin inside edge on the right-hander's bat.
However, his departure for 79 triggered a collapse which saw England lose eight wickets for 81 runs, slumping from 137-2 to 218 all out as Kuldeep (5-72) and Ashwin (4-51), on his 100th Test appearance, did the damage. The hosts then raced to 135-1 at the close.
Openers Crawley and Duckett made a solid start for England at the picturesque Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, putting on an opening stand of 64 after resting some testing seam bowling from the recalled Jasprit Bumrah in particular.
The introduction of wrist-spinner Kuldeep in the 18th over immediately yielded the breakthrough India had been searching for though as he tempted left-hander Duckett into going for the big shot, which he skied up and was caught off by a scrambling Shubman Gill.
Crawley stood firm at the other end though and went on to pass 50, with Pope happy to take the odd single and let the Kent batter keep the strike, and after he passed that milestone, he began to cut loose - including hoisting Ashwin back down the ground for six.
Surrey batter Pope became Kuldeep's second victim on the stroke of lunch though, falling for 11 when he galloped down the wicket and missed one from the left-armer, with wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel whipping off the bails to leave England 100-2 at lunch.
Crawley, who had survived two DRS referrals for lbw in the morning, was given a let-off in the first full over after lunch on 61 when India opted not to review a catch despite the strong protests of Sarfaraz Khan and replays showed they perhaps should have not erred on the side of caution.
Ravi Jadeja then put the batter down from a caught and bowled chance, but Crawley was eventually dismissed in the 38th over when he was bowled by Kuldeep to become the spinner's third victim.
Jonny Bairstow, playing in his 100th Test match, wasted little time in getting stuck into the India bowling attack, passing 6,000 runs in the longest format in the process, and showed no sign of abating after being dropped on 21.
However, his entertaining 18-ball cameo, featuring two fours and two sixes, came to an end for the addition of just eight more runs as he edged Kuldeep to Jurel and failed to overturn the on-field umpire's decision after reviewing it.
Joe Root then departed for 26 in the 45th over, given out lbw to Jadeja, and that was swiftly followed by Kuldeep completing his five-for as the 29-year-old trapped Ben Stokes in the same manner without scoring, with the England captain burning his team's final review in the process.
Tom Hartley (6) and Mark Wood (0) both fell to Ashwin as England limped to 194-8 at tea, and although Ben Foakes dug in to provide a modicum of stability, he was out for 24 in the third over of the evening session after the ball deflected onto the stumps from his pads and was swiftly followed by James Anderson for a duck to bring the innings to a close.
England's bowlers were then made to toil for much the remainder of the final session, but Shoaib Bashir did make a breakthrough late in the day as he had Yashasvi Jaiswal stumped following a quickfire 57 from 58 balls which included five fours and three sixes.
Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma had compiled an opening stand of 104, and the captain remained unbeaten at the crease on 52 along with Gill (26 not out) at the close of play with India trailing by 83 runs with nine wickets still in hand.
England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick, speaking to TNT Sports:
"We had some good things - the way we played up until lunch when the ball swung around more than we expected, Crawley getting that score.
"We just didn't get those partnerships going to get a big score and put the total on the board we needed to. It was a challenging day, no doubt about that.
"We are a very unique side in how we go about things. I don't think we will study what India do too much. We don't get too down when we have bad days, we don't get too high when we have good days.
"You just have to stay level and recognise what you can do better. Hopefully we come back and improve."
Former England fast bowler Steven Finn, speaking on TNT Sports:
"The perception would be that England are dead and buried but you can't go out there with that mindset as India will have a field day and the game will run away from you.
"England lost their last seven wickets for 43 runs so they have to hope that they can do something similar to India - but will India be as profligate?
"You wouldn't have thought so as they seem to be on some sort of vengeance mission since losing the first Test but England have to believe."
Play resumes on day two in Dharamsala at 4am UK time, with live text commentary available via our blog on the Sky Sports website and app.
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