India Vs England 5th Test: Siraj Special Helps IND Bounce Back; ENG 215/7 At Tea

Mohammed Siraj struck thrice in a fiery eight-over spell to lead India’s fightback in the afternoon session of the fifth and final Test against England on Friday.

At tea, England were 215 for seven, effectively eight down with Chris Woakes not available to bat due to a shoulder injury. They still trail India by nine runs.

The wickets to fall were England’s batting mainstay Joe Root (29 off 45), Zak Crawley (64 off 57), stand-in-captain Ollie Pope (22 off) and Jacob Bethell (6 off 14.

A heated exchange of words between Root and Prasidh Krishna was also among the talking points of the session.

After being blown away by the England openers in the opening session, Indian pacers found their lengths post the break. Prasidh sent back Crawley who mistimed a pull to be pouched at midwicket.

Siraj got rid of Pope and Root with a nip backer before firing an inswinging yorker into Bethell’s pads. The pitch continues to provide plenty of assistance to the seamers.

Whether targeting the pads with wobbled seam or producing late swing, Siraj was relentless, once again displaying that he was not a firm believer of workload management.

Prasidh too was impressive and struck thrice in the session, taking the wickets of Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton at the stroke of tea.

In the first session, Crawley and Ben Duckett smashed the Indian pacers with absolute disdain on a seaming surface after bundling out the visitors for 224 in the first half hour of play.

Duckett (43 off 38) and Crawley hit boundaries for fun on a green surface where Gus Atkinson took a deserving five-wicket haul by removing three Indian batters shortly after play began. The hosts raced to 109 for one in 16 overs at lunch.

The trio of Akash Deep, Siraj and Prasidh ran out of ideas against the onslaught from the England openers. Much to their relief, Duckett was caught behind 15 minutes before lunch attempting another reverse hit off Akash Deep.

The opening stand yielded 92 runs off just 77 balls.

It was unusual to see Akash wrap his arm around Duckett and give him a send off with a smile on his face.

Crawley collected five of his 12 fours off Siraj, including a straight drive, punch through the covers and flick towards mid-wicket. He completed his fifty with a boundary in the third man region off Akash.

Duckett deliberately disturbed the pacers’ rhythm by dancing down the track at will, using the cut on the charge twice against Akash.

He pulled off a reverse scoop off Akash before playing a ramp off for a maximum off Siraj soon after.

Pope joined Crawley in the middle and began with a couple of sweetly timed cover drives.

In the first half 30 minutes of play, India lost four wickets for just 20 runs after resuming the day at 204 for six.

Overnight batters Karun Nair (57 off 109)and Washington Sundar (26 off 55) perished in quick succession before Atkinson polished off the tail.