Who said what: World reacts to Kuldeep's dream spell, Smith's masterclass
Despite the presence of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, debutant Kuldeep Yadav shone the brightest for the Indian team on the opening day of the final Test at Dharamsala, coming up with a stupendous display of chinaman bowling to send the Australian middle order in a tizzy. Steve Smith soldiered on from one end, helping himself to his 20th Test hundred, and was the backbone of the first innings. Matthew Wade dug in to give some lower order resistance, pushing the score to 300.
Debutant Kuldeep Yadav, beaming with happiness, spoke after the day’s play:
“It is a dream come true for me. Playing Test cricket and performing like this, couldn’t ask for more. I was nervous in the first few overs, but later it felt normal. Still feels like I am playing Ranji Trophy. The last few months I have been working on my fitness and it has helped with my bowling. In the last month, I have been with Anil (Kumble) and Virat, they always motivate me in the nets. I just bowled wicket-to-wicket and used my variations. I was working on my variations since I started to play cricket; the wrong 'uns, flippers and chinaman. I set a plan for Handscomb. I showed him I was bowling the wrong 'un, but bowled the chinaman. I knew he (Maxwell) was going to go for it and I stuck to my line and wanted to make him uncomfortable”.
Here’s how the Twitterati reacted to first day’s play:
Sachin Tendulkar
Michael Vaughan
Tom Moody
Damien Fleming
Virender Sehwag
Rohit Sharma
Extra cover: India vs Australia 4th Test Day 1 Stats: Steven Smith's incredible run continues