Mahiyar Rohinton Patel, Pune
On the high and mighty Dharamsala pitch up in the Himalayas the English came into the day with the aim to play a redeeming game after a series defeat. Ben stokes elected to bat on a slightly green wicket, with the ball coming well onto the bat. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett faced early in the morning the pace duo of Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah. Crawley punished Siraj repeatedly with his signature drives, similarly Duckett also opened his account for the day with a searing release drive off Bumrah.
The opening English duo developed a good partnership with a good strike rate and rhythm. Just a half century of the partnership came for the duo when Kuldeep Yadav with a low delivery got duckett caught with a 25 yard dash across the field by Shubham Gill. Crawley continues to punish the Indian bowlers; pacer and spinner alike as he brings up his half century in the 23rd over. Ollie Pope had been in good form throughout the series with a century in the first test match but as Kuldeep bowled a good length delivery Pope stepped out of the crease a long way, committing to the shot but the bowl wizzed pass him straight into the wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel’s hands. The pitch continues its blessings on the spinners as Kuldeep pitches a flat ball to Crawley and just as he reaches forward to defend the ball; it pitches very high and goes past the batsman and blows the bails off the stump.
After the quickfire wickets picked up by Kuldeep the English batting regains its mojo with some very good stroke play by Johnny Bairstow and Joe Root. Johnny Bairstow brings up 6000 test runs with a massive six on the on side off Kuldeep. Just a few balls later Kuldeep ends the partnership with the slightest edge off Bairstow’s bat. Joe root is cleaned up by Ravindra Jadeja with some classic close to the body spin bowling. Kuldeep then takes the big one by taking English captain for a duck and his fifth wicket. The remaining British side gets bundled out quickly despite a brief display of fireworks by Shoaib Bashir and Ben Foakes.
The Indian side came out to bat in the evening with most of the overs remaining of the third session. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal put up a good start with the bat. The pair started slow but after the 8th over the English started feeing the Indian summer as Jaiswal smacked three consecutive sixes off Bashir. Rohit Sharma also put up a good performance as he enthralled the Dharmashala crowd with his signature pull shot.
Yashasvi Jaiswal brought in 1000 test runs with a powerful sweep shot off Bashir. The young man brings up his half century towards the end of the day, just as everything was going India’s way Bashir takes Yashasvi’s wicket. Yashasvi tries to smack a quick ball straight down the ground but he misses and the wicketkeeper takes the bails off the stump. Rohit Sharma also brings in a half century as Shubman Gill comes to the crease. The duo hold India stable till stumps at day one.