DHARAMSALA: The Indian team was in a huddle with Kuldeep Yadav at the centre at the HPCA Stadium on Thursday afternoon. Their eyes were glued to the giant screen, and so were the eyes of Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes. Kuldeep had rapped Stokes on the pads and the England captain was given out. It looked plumb in real time but the southpaw sent it upstairs.
Just as Hawkeye returned three reads, the crowd let out a roar. The Indian huddle was jubilant. Every player from the XI was there save Mohammed Siraj. The pacer was standing near the on-field umpires. After the verdict, he asked for the ball and gave it to Kuldeep, who raised it to acknowledge the applause.
The 29-year-old had registered his fourth five-wicket haul in his 12th Test. England’s score read 175/6. However, that scorecard was not as straightforward as it seemed.
Contrary to the forecast, the skies had cleared up significantly as the sun shone bright through the day with a bit of cold breeze blowing across the stadium intermittently. Winning the toss on a belter of a surface, England opted to bat first.
Before the first ball was bowled, R Ashwin was felicitated, as was Jonny Bairstow. The Indian spinner received a guard of honour as the team walked onto the field. Once play began, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, did what they do best. They, somehow, survived Jasprit Bumrah and kept picking up the boundaries. Crawley, in particular, was ruthless when the ball was in his zone. He could have gotten out at least three times to Bumrah as the Indian pacer made the most of the moisture in the atmosphere to move the ball both ways. Crawley first survived, and then, thrived. The long levers came to good use as he took on Ashwin and Kuldeep even as Duckett got out to the latter in his very first over. At the stroke of lunch, Ollie Pope lost his patience and the plot, getting beaten by Kuldeep’s googly and was stumped by Dhruv Jurel.
Crawley, meanwhile, was unperturbed. He continued to pile on, hitting Kuldeep and Ashwin with and against the spin, tonking them down the ground and even driving them through the covers to bring up yet another half-century. Put a heavy metal rock song to his highlights package and it would have been fitting. It seemed like Crawley wa going to score his first century of the series with England going at over 3.5 runs per over. But then, Kuldeep happened.
Coming from around the wicket, he delivered a leg-spinner, which initially seemed like it would pitch on off-stump, but the drift took it away. Crawley adjusted, going for an expansive cover drive, but the ball beat the inside edge before spinning back into him and hitting the leg-stump. It was the kind of delivery Kuldeep’s idol, Shane Warne, would have been proud of. Crawley had to take the long walk back, wondering what actually happened. A while later, Kuldeep would outdo Bairstow before removing Stokes with a googly. A fitting five-wicket haul for the left-arm wrist spinner.
From thereon, Ashwin would take over as he ran through the visitors' lower-order. From 175/3, they were bowled out for 218, crumbling against the Indian spinners on a pitch that did not have much demons. It was not a rank turner, nor was it playing tricks with uneven bounce. It was perhaps the most typical Indian track they have gotten in this series. Yet, having already lost the series 3-1, England looked clueless, letting go off an opportunity to post a big total.
As the Indian team walked back, Ashwin was handed the ball by Kuldeep. But the senior threw it back to Kuldeep. It went back and forth before Ashwin convinced Kuldeep to have the ball and lead the team off the field. Ashwin knew it was Kuldeep’s day, at a venue that will remain close to his heart. After all, it is where Kuldeep had made his Test debut seven years ago, helping India beat Australia and win the series.
Yet, in the 66 Tests India have played since, Kuldeep has featured only in ten (excluding the ongoing one). Such are the riches of the Indian spin attack. This Test match in Dharamsala is only his 12th in seven years, and it is the first time Kuldeep has played four consecutive games for India in the longest format. On the eve of the fifth, Rohit explained why Kuldeep hadn’t played as much as he should have.
After the day’s play, he spoke about coming back to the venue and how much he has matured. He also elaborated on how then Indian spinners used the breeze to get the drift and deceive batters. “The conditions were such that the wicket won't break down because there's cold wind blowing, and the weather is always cold. The morning was very cold but when the ball was gripping, I was trying to spin the ball well, trying to give it more revs. I used the drift well. The wind was blowing so well that the ball was drifting both ways. So it was a result of that. I am very happy that we bowled them out 218. The wicket is good for batting,” Kuldeep said.
Ask him if he looks at the responsibility of taking the Indian spin attack forward, he has a shy smile, saying he doesn’t know what would happen in the future. However, the 29-year-old admitted he would love to play for the country for a long time.
Indian cricket would want the same too.
