England endured a challenging first hour of play against the new ball on the inaugural day of the fifth Test in chilly Dharamsala. However, they managed to establish their fifth half-century partnership for the first wicket in the series before Ben Duckett fell prey to Kuldeep Yadav.
Despite the daunting seam and swing movement during the session, England appeared to navigate through to Lunch with minimal damage, until the left-arm wrist spinner took charge for the final over before the break.
Yet, thanks to Sarfaraz Khan’s astute game sense, England’s hopes of reaching Lunch with only one wicket down were dashed. As Kuldeep prepared to deliver the third ball of the 26th over, Sarfaraz, stationed at leg slip, vocally predicted Pope’s forward movement.
Acting on this cue, Kuldeep cleverly floated a delivery similar to his previous one, enticing Pope to advance down the track.
Kuldeep sends Pope packing with a Jaffa 🤯🤌
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) March 7, 2024
India get their second wicket at the stroke of Lunch 🙌#IDFCFirstBankTestSeries #BazBowled #INDvENG #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/gQWM3XYEEg
However, it was a well-disguised googly that deceived Pope, pitching just short of where he anticipated and spinning sharply past his bat into Dhruv Jurel’s gloves. Pope found himself stranded, and Jurel executed a simple stumping to leave England at 100/2 as Lunch was called.