England’s batting unit drew criticism from fans following a poor performance in the first innings of the fifth Test against India in Dharamsala on Thursday, March 7.
ENG batted first after winning the toss. Zak Crawley (79) and Ben Duckett (27) started well, scoring 64 runs together. They were able to go through Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj’s first stints without conceding a wicket. Kuldeep Yadav broke their promising stand in the 18th over, giving India its first breakthrough.
Kuldeep then stormed through the middle order, picking up five wickets to ruin ENG effort. Ollie Pope (11), Joe Root (26), Jonny Bairstow (29), and Ben Foakes (24) all received starts but were unable to make an impact, severely limiting the visitors’ chances. Finally, Ravichandran Ashwin cleaned up, taking the final four wickets in his 100th Test.
Fans blasted ENG players and the Bazball style following their terrible performance on Thursday. They shared their opinions by posting humorous memes on social media networks.
Below are some of the finest memes:
Zaheer Khan praises Kuldeep Yadav for outsmarting England with his variations
Former Indian bowler Zaheer Khan lavished admiration on Kuldeep Yadav for his outstanding performance against ENG on Day 1 of the fifth Test in Dharamshala.
During a conversation on Colors Cineplex, Zaheer Khan evaluated Kuldeep’s bowling performance, saying:
“I won’t say no if you want to give him even 15 or 20 because it was a day like that for him. You need to be praised if you give such a contribution on the first day of a match as a spinner. The England batters did not have any idea, whether the ball was coming in, going out, or if it was a straighter one.”
Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan continued:
“If you are not even able to figure that out as a batter, you will definitely have problems whether there is help from the pitch or not. Kuldeep caused those sort of problems for the England batters. He will remember this day for a long time. He also made his debut here. So you can add a good performance to that. So Kuldeep will definitely include this ground in his special grounds.”
Zaheer Khan
