Team India's veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's kind gesture won hearts as he let his teammate Kuldeep Yadav lead the team towards the dressing room after the latter picked fifer on Day 1 of the fifth Test against England at HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala on Thursday, March 7.
Ashwin, who is playing 100th match of his illustrious Test career, received a guard of honour while he was taking the field in his milestone match. Though the spotlight was on the Chennai-born cricketer, Kuldeep Yadav managed to stole the show with his five-wicket haul in the first innings.
After bundling out England for 218 in the first innings, Kuldeep Yadav took the ball from the umpire and gave it to R Ashwin as he wanted him to lead the team off the field in his 100th Test match. However, Ashwin denied it and gave the ball back to Kuldeep and asked him to lead the team towards the dressing. The video of the same was shared BCCI on its X handle (formerly Twitter).
Ravichandran Ashwin became the 14th Indian cricketer to play 100th Test match for Team India in the history of Test Cricket. Before Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara was the last Indian player to take the field in his 100th Test during the second Test against Australia in Febraury 2023.
Ashwin couldn't have asked for the better start to his 100th Test as he picked four wickets in the first innings.
Ashwin and Kuldeep rattle England batting line-up on Day 1.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav's bowling brilliance put India on top in the first innings on Day 1 of Dharamshala. The spin-bowling duo shared 9 wickets to help the hosts bundle out England for 218 in the first innings.
England batters struggled to play against Ashwin and Kuldeep as the visitors lost eight wickets for 118 runs. After lunch, England began to lost wickets as Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Zak Crawley, Jonny Bairstow, and Ben Stokes and reducing to 195/6. Stokes' wicket led Kuldeep completes his five-wicket haul.
Then, Ashwin picked four wickets of Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Ben Foakes, and James Anderson to wrap up England innings.
Only Zak Crawley managed to show his resistance against India's bowling attack as he scored 79 off 108 balls while other batters failed to come up with impactful performances.
