India vs England 5th Test: Kuldeep Yadav shattered records as India bowled out England for 218 on Day 1 in Dharamsala
The stage was set for India's Ravichandran Ashwin and England's Jonny Bairstow. It was their 100th Test match after all. And both of them got a fair opportunity to leave an immediate impact. They can still produce a match-winning performance in the second innings – Ashwin, in fact, didn't even need to wait that long. He polished off England's tail – But Day 1 of India vs England fifth Test belonged to, without an iota of doubt, Kuldeep Yadav.
It may seem unbelievable that there was a reasonable double over Kuldeep's place in India's XI for this Test purely because of the conditions in Dharamsala. India captain Rohit Sharma “seriously considered” playing three seamers because of the damp and cold weather conditions. There was no way they could have dropped Ravindra Jadeja because he was not only a premier spinner but also a No.5 batter now. Ashwin was slated to play his 100th Test. So if India were playing three seamers, Kuldeep would have had to sit out. But they didn't. And Indian fans would be breathing a sigh of relief they didn't.
Kuldeep ran through England's top-order in the first two sessions in a display that would make the best of wrist spinners marvel. The first couple of wickets were a bit of a gift. Ben Duckett ran down the wicket and heaved across the line only to get a top edge for Shubman Gill to take a brilliant catch running backwards.
Kuldeep Yadav's record-breaking reunion with Dharamsala
But a reunion it was. Kuldeep reserved his best for the second session. He became the quickest Indian bowler and the quickest spinner in world in the last 100 years (in terms of bowls bowled) to pick 50 Test wickets. He took only 1871 balls to reach 50 Test wickets. In terms of matches played, he was the joint six-fastest Indian along with Subhash Gupte, Erapalli Prasanna, and Axar Patel.
He also became only the third left-arm spinner and the first from India to claim more than 50 Test wickets. South Africa's Paul Adams and England's Johnny Wardle are the other two.
Kuldeep could have got rid of Zak Crawley (79 off 108) on the second ball of the day but India opted against DRS for a catch.
