India and England are locking horns in the fifth and final Test match of the bilateral series. While India had already taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match home series, the hosts find themselves in the driver's seat of their last international assignment before the start of the seventeenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Despite winning the toss and opting to bat first, the Three Lions are on the backfoot after getting bowled out for 218 in the first innings, losing all their 10 wickets to spin.
Kuldeep Yadav was the wrecker-in-chief for India, scalping five wickets for 72 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin too picked 4 wickets for 51 runs while Ravindra Jadeja picked up the remaining wicket. Captain Rohit Sharma was outstanding in marshalling his resources. An incident featuring him which has gone viral on social media shows him having a word with the close in fielders on the dismissal of Zak Crawley during which he can be heard indirectly taking a dig at Jonny Bairstow who was having a horror run in the build up to this innings.
Rohit can be heard saying: "Isko toh kuch bhi daal (Bowl him any delivery)", in the viral video which has gone viral on social media.
Take a look:
Jonny Bairstow's Horror Run In IND vs ENG Test Series Continues
Bairstow, one of the two players along with India's Ravichandran Ashwin to play his 100th in the ongoing fixture at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamshala's could not change his fortunes in the ongoing series and departed for 29 becoming one of Kuldeep's victims. Bairstow only has 199 runs from 9 innings in the series with a best of 38.
Meanwhile, India finished Day 1 at 135/1, riding on half-centuries from Rohit (52*) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (57 off 58). They trail England by 83 runs but with 9 wickets remaining in the innings.