Shubman Gill took a stunning diving catch to provide India their first breakthrough of the day.
India is facing England in the fifth Test of the series at HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala. England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and England decided to bat first in chilly conditions, surrounded by mountains.
There was plenty of help for the fast bowlers in the morning session and Indian fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj tested England’s openers with their pace and skills. Despite getting beaten a numerous times, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley rode their luck and survived the new-ball burst.
Both Duckett and Crawley stitched together another fifty-plus partnership in the series and were looking increasingly assured at the crease before Kuldeep Yadav came in to bowl the 18th over. The left-arm wristspinner was smashed for two fours in his first four balls, one each by Crawley and Duckett.
𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐓 💥🔥
Duckett departs, Kuldeep strikes in his first over 💪#IDFCFirstBankTestSeries #BazBowled #INDvENG #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/j4oTL9M4Pq
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) March 7, 2024
But Kuldeep kept persisting on flighting the ball. In the last ball of his first over, he flighted the ball outside off-stump and Duckett tried to launch across the line. But the left-hander skied the ball and got a big leading edge. Shubman Gill ran backwards from short cover to take a stunning diving catch.
Ben Duckett had thrown away another start in this series and got dismissed for 27 runs. Gill’s brilliance in the field ended England’s resilience and provided the vital breakthrough that India were looking for.
Shubman Gill’s outstanding catch was similar to Travis Head’s game-changing catch in the World Cup final to dismiss Rohit Sharma. Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar lauded Gill for his brilliant take.
“It’s never easy to catch these. Running backwards… This is reminiscent of the Rohit Sharma dismissal in the World Cup final. He was caught in the same way by Travis Head. Look at the embrace from the teammates. They know how difficult it was. His long levers made him reach out. Terrific stuff, what a cricketer,” Gavaskar said on air.
England were 100/2 at Lunch on Day 1. A confident Kuldeep Yadav went on to take another wicket in his fifth over when he had Ollie Pope stumped by the wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel for 11. This wicket also turned out to be the last ball before lunch. Zak Crawley is unbeaten on 61 with Joe Root slotted to come in next.
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