India dominated proceedings on the first day of the fifth test against England at Dharamsala, with the spinners having a field day. Spinners Kuldeep Yadav, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja shared the wickets to fall between them as the visitors were bundled out for 218. Kuldeep Yadav claimed a fifer and was the star performer on day 1. In reply, India started well and ended the day 135/1 with skipper Rohit Sharma going strong.
Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal have put India in a commanding position with the latter unlucky not to convert his half-century into triple figures yet again. The home side will be looking to bat England out of the tie with some quality attacking batters yet to come. The pitch has progressed well to become a batting paradise and England bowlers are not having any support. It will not be a surprise if Rohit Sharma gets a century.
James Anderson and Mark Wood have once again looked out of sorts for the visitors and this remains a key area of weakness for them. Mark Wood will need to keep the opposition’s run rate down during his long spells. Shoaib Bashir picked up the only wicket to fall for India but he is also trading high on the economy rate.