The fifth and final Test of the series between India and England got underway today (March 7) in Dharamsala. It is only the second Test at the venue and Kuldeep Yadav is making it memorable for himself. Interestingly, the last time India played a Test match here, back in 2017 against Australia, the wrist-spinner was chief tormentor picking up four wickets in the first innings.
This time around though Kuldeep has returned as a much better bowler picking up a five-wicket haul for the fourth time in his career in Tests. When he picked his fourth scalp of the innings sending back Jonny Bairstow, Kuldeep completed 50 wickets in the format in his 12th Test match. He is the joint fifth fastest Indian to the milestone levelling with former India cricketer Erapalli Prasanna who was an off-spinner and ended with 189 wickets in 47 Tests.
Fastest to 50 wickets among Indian bowlers
| Players | No. of Test matches taken to reach 50 wickets |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 9 |
| Anil Kumble | 10 |
| Narendra Hirwani, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah | 11 |
| Erapalli Prasanna, Kuldeep Yadav, Subhash Gupte, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Axar Patel | 12 |
A few other Indian bowlers to complete 50 wickets in the longest format in their 12th Test are Axar Patel, Subhash Gupte and Bhagwath Chandrasekhar. Ravichandran Ashwin who is playing his 100th Test in Dharamsala is the fastest to 50 wickets among Indian players as he had reached the landmark only in his 9th Test match. Anil Kumble (10 Tests), Narendra Hirwani, Harbhajan Singh and Jasprit Bumrah (11 Tests each) were quicker to the said milestone for India.
Meanwhile, England have collapsed big time in the first innings of the ongoing Test in Dharamsala after sitting pretty at 137/2 at one stage. Moreover, they lost three wickets on the score of 175 itself and it remains to be seen if they will be able to cross the 250-mark which will be significant given the way the ball is turning at the moment.
