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It was not just Ravichandran Ashwin, who was playing the 100th Test match of his career on Friday at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala. For England, Jonny Bairstow reached the milestone, becoming the 78th cricketer in history and the 17th for England, joining his captain Ben Stokes, who played his 100th Test in Rajkot early last month against India. However, India captain Rohit Sharma showed no mercy to the England veteran when he came in to bat on Day 1 of the fifth and final Test series.
Bairstow reached the crease in the 38th over of the first innings in Dharamshala after England opted to bat first. Kuldeep Yadav had just dismissed in-form batsman Zak Crawley with a fine delivery, reducing the visitors to three down for 137 runs. While Bairstow was talking to former England captain Joe Root, the external microphone caught Rohit talking to nearby fielders about the dismissal of Crawley and the other two England batsmen, when the India captain indirectly trolled Bairstow by saying: “Isko toh kuch bhi daal (Throw any delivery).”
Bairstow’s stay lasted just 18 deliveries as the England batsman’s poor run of form in the series against India continued with a dismissal for just 29 runs. And with that, the Indian spinners brought about a dramatic collapse for the visiting team.
England lost their last seven wickets in just 43 runs and Kuldeep completed a five-wicket haul at the venue where he had made his Test debut seven years ago, while Ashwin cleaned up the lower order to double the tourists in just 218 runs.
The Indian opening pair of Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal then stitched a 104-run stand, where the latter completed his fourth career fifty, amassed 700 runs in the series and reached the milestone of 1000 runs in his Test career. Soon after Jaiswal’s dismissal, Rohit scored his fifty and remained unbeaten at a 31-run stand for the second wicket as India reduced the first innings deficit to 83 runs.