India vs England 5th Test: Rohit Sharma had a unique way of motivating Siraj who had a painful fall on Day 1 in Dharamsala.
Rohit Sharma is as emotive an Indian captain as there ever has been. And his expressions are not similar to Virat Kohli, who was full of aggression most of the time. Rohit instead, calls the shots with an uneasy charm. Half of the time, he has a frown on his face when the cameras turn to him. When it gets too much, he doesn’t even shy away from shooing the cameras away. Then, there are his most unique ways of schooling his teammates. “Don’t be a hero,” he said to Sarfaraz Khan when the youngster wanted to stay at shortleg without a helmet. It was that side of Rohit that came to the fore in the first session of the fifth Test against England in Dharamsala.
India’s Mohammed Siraj speaks to Rohit Sharma(REUTERS)
It came in the 11th over of England’s innings when Zak Crawley clipped a Jasprit Bumrah inswinger off his pads. Mohammed Siraj, who was after the ball, slipped before picking it up. He was seen grimacing in pain, holding his knee. A fast bowler holding his knee on the first morning of a Test match is a dreaded sight for a captain. But Rohit had a different way of dealing with things.
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“Uth jaa, uth jaa… Sabash! (get up, get up, come on),” he shouted. That’s the Rohit Sharma school of motivation. Siraj took a couple of more seconds before getting up to take his position in the field.
Siraj had already bowled five overs with the ball by then. After that injury scare, you would think no way Siraj is blowing another over. WRONG! You are not Rohit Sharma. He straightaway throws the ball to Siraj, asking him to bowl his sixth over on the trot.
Guess what? After Siraj aborted his run-up before bowling the first ball, he nearly got the wicket of Zak Crawley on the penultimate ball of that over. It was the umpire’s call that came to the England opener’s rescue.
Kuldeep Yadav struck twice before lunch to peg England back to 100-2. Crawley was unbeaten on 61 off 71 balls at the interval after sharing stands of 64 with Duckett and 36 with Ollie Pope, who was out at the stroke of the first interval for 11.
Yadav returned 2-22 in the 25.3-over first session.
England’s opening pair got on top early despite morning conditions aiding the pace bowlers.
Jasprit Bumrah, back after being rested in the fourth test, got the ball to move a lot from length, but didn’t manage to pick any wickets in his opening burst. He bowled seven overs for 0-24. Duckett, in particular, was lucky to survive on more than one occasion.
Despite the early movement, the first hour belonged to England as it reached 47-0 in 13 overs.
Shubman Gill helped Yadav provide the first breakthrough — running back from cover to catch a leading edge off Duckett (27 off 58 balls) in the 19th over.
Crawley hit nine fours and a six, reaching 50 off 64 balls – his fourth half-century in this series. Pope didn’t continue much longer, out stumped off Yadav’s bowling for 11.
