can anyone sense that England is facing an uphill battle? Their lackluster performance with the bat, coupled with the daunting task ahead with the ball, suggests so. Kuldeep Yadav’s impressive five-wicket haul, along with R Ashwin’s four-wicket contribution in his 100th Test, threw England off course after a solid start. India further compounded their pain by forging the first-century opening partnership of the series. Yashasvi Jaiswal surpassed 1000 Test runs, second only to Vinod Kambli in terms of innings taken, but unfortunately got stumped before departing. Despite this setback, there was little else to uplift the visitors’ spirits.
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Kuldeep Yadav, the left-arm spinner for India
Kuldeep Yadav, the left-arm spinner for India, has quietly been wreaking havoc throughout the series, proving to be the defining factor once again in Dharamsala. India currently stands at 135 for 1 (with Jaiswal scoring 57, Rohit 52*, and Gill 26*), trailing England’s first innings total of 218 (led by Crawley’s 79, and Kuldeep’s 5-72 and Ashwin’s 4-51) by 83 runs.
In essence, England’s batting approach in this India tour has been to amass runs before encountering a challenging delivery. However, they have come face-to-face with Kuldeep Yadav, whose methods are perfectly tailored to confound them. Few spin bowlers in history have consistently produced as many wicket-taking deliveries as Kuldeep has in this quietly devastating campaign. Reaching his first five-wicket haul in just 1871 deliveries, he achieved his 50th Test wicket faster than any other spinner since Jonny Briggs in the 19th Century. Remarkably, he outpaced India’s next quickest to the milestone, Axar Patel, by over 55 overs. This only adds to the troubles England faces on this challenging tour.
Kuldeep Yadav has been exceptional
Kuldeep Yadav has been exceptional in the series, accumulating 17 wickets from exactly 100 overs. Interestingly, nine of those wickets have come in his last 30 overs. Similar to how he unraveled England’s batting in the crucial third innings in Ranchi, he was once again responsible for their disintegration, even in challenging but manageable batting conditions.
After winning a toss that should have been advantageous, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett faced a challenging first hour in swinging conditions. However, they managed to lift England to 64 for 0 with their seventh partnership of 45 runs or more in this series. Unfortunately, England’s score quickly deteriorated to 175 for 6, with Ben Stokes becoming Kuldeep’s fifth and final victim. The team was eventually all out for 218, with R Ashwin marking his 100th Test appearance by dismissing the tail and claiming four wickets.
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Despite his quiet yet steady progress, Joe Root’s equilibrium hasn’t been quite the same on this tour, aside from his century in Ranchi. In Ravindra Jadeja’s over, Root fell victim to a classic two-card trick—a ripping delivery that beat his outside edge, followed by a slider that hit the middle of his knee-roll.
Root, somewhat late and somewhat desperate, opted to seek a second opinion before HawkEye confirmed the bad news. This instance further highlights England’s confused mindset, which was further confirmed when Stokes fell to Kuldeep in the following over. Throughout the series, England’s captain has appeared subdued with the bat, often hanging back in the crease to assess the challenge before facing it. Ironically, this approach mirrors the fatalistic batting style that his team claims to avoid.
Just as Root experienced Jasprit Bumrah’s magic balls earlier in the series, he invited Kuldeep to attack him on his own terms. A fantastic legbreak beyond his outside edge was followed by a perfectly executed googly, leaving Stokes pinned on the crease as he helplessly tried to bat across the line. With a six-ball duck and his third single-figure score in quick succession, England found themselves in dire straits.
Ben Foakes, having learned from his previous futile efforts in Ranchi, briefly counterattacked alongside Shoaib Bashir after tea. However, as Ashwin dismantled the remaining English innings, handing over the honor of leading the team off the field to Kuldeep, it became evident that England had squandered their best opportunity to salvage pride from this challenging tour.
With a strong Indian batting lineup still to come, England face a daunting task in the remaining days of the Test match. They will need to produce a remarkable fightback to avoid going down in the series.
