In a gripping showdown at Dharamshala, the spin prowess of Team India’s duo, Kuldeep Yadav and R Ashwin, proved too much for England to handle as they were bundled out for 218 runs in their first innings.
England’s Batting Collapse:
Facing the lethal spin duo, England initially looked solid with an opening partnership of 64 runs between Ben Duckett and Zach Crowley. However, their innings soon unraveled as they lost crucial wickets, including Duckett and Crowley, leading to a collapse from 175 for 4 to 218 all out. Crowley top-scored with 79 runs, but England’s lower order crumbled under pressure.
Key Contributions:
Zach Crowley, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, and Ben Foakes made contributions with the bat, but their efforts were overshadowed by the dominant performance of Kuldeep Yadav, who claimed 5 wickets, and R Ashwin, who marked his 100th match with 4 wickets. Ravindra Jadeja also chipped in with a wicket.
Team Lineups
Team India Playing XI | Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammad Siraj.
England Playing XI | Ben Stokes (Captain) Zach Crowley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, James Anderson and Shoaib Bashir
Implications
With England’s batting collapse, Team India finds itself in a strong position going into the rest of the Test match. The remarkable performance of Kuldeep-Ashwin has bolstered India’s chances of securing a favorable outcome in the match.
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