England played well what was a tricky opening session on day 1 of the 5th Test against India in Dharamsala. However, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope proved to the tourists' casualties in the first session as left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav struck twice. However, Zak Crawley has looked solid, bringing up his 4th fifty of the series.
On what Ben Stokes considered to be a belter of a pitch, England opted to bat first. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were unlucky not to get a breakthrough before Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley raised another fifty-run stand as the pace battery beat the bat a handful of times.
Kuldeep struck in his first over as Duckett's eyes lit up as the leggie fired a wide one. However, the southpaw got a leading edge and Shubman Gill did exceptionally well, covering plenty of ground to take a stunning catch. Crawley survived an LBW chance off Kuldeep as India lost the review, with the ball heading down the leg side.
Crawley reached the 4th half-century of the series by drilling one straight down the ground off Kuldeep and smashed a handsome six off Ravichandran Ashwin in the following over. However, Kuldeep took Pope's wicket with him to lunch as the right-hander was deceived by a googly, with Dhruv Jurel affecting the stumping. The players took lunch immediately after that.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Jonny Bairstow presented with their 100th Test caps:
With both Ravichandran Ashwin and Jonny Bairstow playing their landmark Tests, they received their special caps before the play. Head coach Rahul Dravid felicitated the veteran spinner, whose wife and two daughters were present for the occasion.
Meanwhile, Bairstow was left teary-eyed as his fellow Yorkshire man Joe Root presented him with his 100th Test cap. The 34-year-old mother and sister were also present for the occasion.
