England unravelled after Zak Crawley’s battling 79 as India left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav claimed five wickets on the opening day of the fifth Test in Dharamsala.
From 175 for three, England lost three wickets in 13 balls and burned all three reviews as Jonny Bairstow, on his 100th Test, and Ben Stokes fell to Kuldeep, with Joe Root lbw to Ravindra Jadeja.
Crawley had earlier overcome a probing opening spell from Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in helpful seaming conditions but was the first of six wickets to fall in a frenzied afternoon session, with five falling for just eight runs.
The tourists, seeking a consolation win after falling 3-1 down in the five-match series, went to tea on 194 for eight as Ravichandran Ashwin claimed a couple of lower-order wickets in his 100th Test.
Bairstow was overcome with emotion as he was presented with his 100th Test cap by fellow Yorkshireman Root in a team huddle where his mother, sister, partner and infant child were present.
Stokes said this week the pitch would be “absolutely belting” for batting so had little hesitation upon winning the toss, allowing Shoaib Bashir a little more time to convalesce after missing Wednesday’s final practice because of an upset stomach.
Ollie Robinson was back at the team hotel and with England down to 13 players, assistant coaches and ex-internationals Marcus Trescothick, 48, and Paul Collingwood, 47, were listed among the substitute fielders.
The cooler conditions in the foothills of the Himalayas initially aided India’s seamers and especially Bumrah, who repeatedly went past the outside edge. An 85mph delivery behaved like a leg-break to beat Crawley all ends up, underlining the challenge England’s openers faced off the pitch.
Crawley had success off back and front foot, with some eye-catching drives through the covers, while Duckett hunkered down as England’s opening pair dug deep to put on their fifth 50-stand of the series.
But Duckett undid his hard work in Kuldeep’s first over as a leading edge ballooned into the off side and was caught over his shoulder by a diving Shubman Gill.
Crawley moved to his fifty and hammered the initially ineffective Ashwin for six but, after England moved to three figures, Ollie Pope was stumped for 11 after misreading Kuldeep’s googly from the final ball before lunch.
Crawley should have been out to the second ball of the afternoon after glancing to short-leg but India elected not to review but there was no DRS needed when the England opener was beaten through the gate and castled by a sharply-turning delivery from Kuldeep.
Bairstow had a frenetic 18-ball innings that yielded 29 runs, with two sixes – the second taking him to 6,000 Test runs – and a drop on 21 by Kuldeep, who atoned by grazing the Yorkshireman’s edge after he was foxed by the wrong’un.
Bairstow reviewed in vain, as did Root after he was beaten on the inside edge and struck on the front pad for 26 in Jadeja’s next over. When Stokes turned to DRS after playing back to another Kuldeep googly, the on-field lbw decision was again upheld and England’s captain departed for a six-ball duck.
Tom Hartley was caught in the deep attempting to belt Ashwin for six while Mark Wood defended the spinner to slip before Ben Foakes (8no) and Shoaib Bashir (5no) saw out the rest of the session.
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
Last Hurrah: Dwayne Bravo to call time on CPL career after this year's edition
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be his last hurrah as he announced his retirement from the tournament on Saturday.
Bravo, who represents the Trinbago Knight Riders, made the revelation on his Instagram account hours ahead of the franchise’s opening contest against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre, scheduled for 7:00pm.
“It's been a great journey, and I'm looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people," Bravo said in his post.
“TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team,” he added.
The 40-year-old’s post all but indicates the end of a decorated professional career, as he retired from international cricket in 2021 after the T20 World Cup and also announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later after being part of four title-winning Chennai Super Kings campaigns.
Bravo, known for his flair and skillful batting and bowling, is currently the CPL’s highest wicket-taker with 128 scalps in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.
In fact, Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in all T20s, with 630 scalps in 578 matches. He has also scored 6,970 runs with the bat.
No doubt the electrifying Trinidad and Tobago stalwart will go down as one of T20's early legends, having played seven World Cups in the format, winning two titles, as well as over 15 franchise league titles. He is the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets.
CWI targets domestic T20 competition in 2025 to identify Caribbean representative(s) for 2028 Olympic Games
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr. Kishore Shallow says plans are already afoot to host a domestic T20 competition next year to determine the Caribbean representative(s) for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Shallow, once again welcoming cricket’s return to the Olympic Games, pointed out that his administration is already in dialogue with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) hierarchy to stage the domestic competition in 2025.
Cricket, which last featured at an Olympic Games in 1900, was always set for a long-awaited return to the global multi-sport showpiece, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year confirmed it and four other sports—baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash—for the LA Games.
“To add cricket to the agenda in the next Olympics is certainly going to be something tremendous, as we did in the Commonwealth Games a couple years ago when we had one of our teams representing the females. We at the time chose our original women’s tournament, and the winner at the time was Barbados, so they represented the region,” Shallow said.
“We anticipate something similar will be done unless they tell us all the teams can come and participate, which would be ideal, but it is unlikely for that to happen,” he added.
Shallow also explained that the CPL champions cannot represent the region at the Olympic Games given that the tournament is franchise-based and involves players from other parts of the world.
As such, he revealed that he has engaged CARICOM leaders regarding plans for a domestic T20 competition from which the winner or top finishers would secure the coveted Olympic Games spot(s).
“We have been in discussion with CPL for them to fund a domestic T20 tournament starting next year. I think Miles Bascombe and his team have already scheduled a window for that next year in 2025. Once we are able to have that tournament, then we can use that to determine which team or teams will participate in the Olympics on behalf of CWI,” Shallow shared.
“We can’t use the CPL as it is now because it’s franchises. But in the domestic tournament that we’re having, which will still have a commercial model to it but not to the extent of CPL, but that will more than likely be territories instead of franchises, so we will be able to identify teams,” he noted.
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