Batbricks7

Zak Crawley completed yet another half-century.

A typically fluent unbeaten fifty from Zak Crawley and Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah's probing spells were the major on-field talking points in an eventful first morning of the fifth Test between India and England in Dharamsala that began with a lot of pageantry involving two players playing their 100th Test and another - Devdutt Padikkal - making his debut.

After resisting the temptation to play an extra seamer despite the seam-friendly history of the venue, Ben Stokes went one further by opting to bat at the toss. Having made the call, the England skipper had to watch from the dressing room as India's new-ball duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj got the ball talking, both in the air and off the pitch. The movement was more off the seam and it was prodigious but England's openers negotiated the opening hour with a mix of determination, adventure and fortune.

Both batters were beaten on the outside edge quite a few times by Bumrah and Siraj but the nick proved elusive for India. The scoring rate wasn't the usual Bazball tempo but runs kept coming at a fair clip. Duckett, edgy initially, started to find his touch with some delicate strokes but his urge to take on Kuldeep in the wrist-spinner's first over backfired for the visitors. After a backfoot cut that went for four off a misfield and a delicious back foot punch past mid-on, Duckett tried a wild slog across the line, only to slice it over extra cover. Shubman Gill covered good ground to take a fine catch over his shoulder, landing forward with a tumble. It was a timely breakthrough for India as England were just about starting to take charge of the session after their opening pair's fifth 50+ stand of the series.

Duckett's dismissal didn't deter Crawley who looked compact from the get-go, both against pace and spin. He used his reach well, and dished out some lovely drives through the off-side. Unafraid to use his feet, Crawley even lofted Ashwin down the ground for a big six. Ollie Pope, meanwhile, looked fidgety in his short stay at the crease and perished right at the stroke of lunch, walking down the pitch to a Kuldeep googly that he didn't pick, allowing Dhruv Jurel to complete the easiest of stumpings.

Crawley's 14th Test match half-century, however, had put England on top but the late strike in the session evens things out. Ironic as it may sound for a pitch supposed to aid the seamers, both Kuldeep and Ashwin managed to create moments of doubt in the English batters' minds with the wrist spinner being the pick of the lot.