Tom Hartley’s heave over wide long-on has served him well throughout the Test series against India, but today he’s misjudged his shot just a fraction, and paid the price. Ravichandran Ashwin extracts some overspin to scupper Hartley’s alignment, and the debutant Devdutt Padikkal settles underneath the miscue. From 100 for 1 moments before lunch, and 175 for 3 when Bairstow was finding his bearings, England are adrift at 183 for 7 now.
An unbeaten fifty from Zak Crawley and Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah’s nagging spells were the chief on-field talking points in an eventful first morning at Dharamsala. The left-arm wrist spinner spun a web around the visitors in the post-lunch session to put India firmly on top on the opening day of the fifth Test against England at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association stadium in Dharamsala.
Before the start of play, Ravichandran Ashwin and Jonny Bairstow were handed their respective caps for the 100th Test with their families around.
Brief scores: England 194/8 (Zak Crawley 79; Kuldeep Yadav 5-72, Ravichandran Ashwin 2-39) vs India
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