India's bowler Kuldeep Yadav celebrates after taking five wickets during the first day of the fifth Test cricket match between India and England, in Dharamshala, Thursday, March 7, 2024. (PTI Photo)

Every time Kuldeep Yadav would take a wicket, his highly-obliged teammates would crowd around him and lovingly ruffle his thick brownish mop of hair. On a hard brownish true pitch where pacers and finger-spinners found it tough to get wickets, the Chinaman from Kanpur proved the saviour for his team. On a typically overcast English morning, at a venue that had more Barmy Army flags than Tricolours, Kuldeep Yadav hammered home the fact to the world that this was no home-away-from-home for Ben Stokes and his men. His figures of 5/72 were an exhibition of his extensive repertoire that has many stock balls plus several versions and variations. England's first innings total of 218 all out reconfirmed that India, under Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma, don't need pitch manipulation to dismiss visiting teams cheaply. And Kuldeep's unchanged 15-over spell, during which England went from 55/0 to 179/6, was a reconfirmation of the many match-winners that have emerged in Rohit's team. If Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Ravichandran Ashwin can't get the breakthrough, there is always the con and cunning of the man from Kanpur to fall back upon. The most eye-catching of Kuldeep's dismissals on Day 1 was the stumping of England No.3 Ollie Pope. It showed how spin bowling was a community activity that has the involvement of all those around the bat. It's like those amateur chess mehfils at town squares where every hanger-on feels obliged to hunker over the board and advise the players. The chatter is louder and frequent when the ball is in the hands of Kuldeep, the wrist-spinner who ignites the imagination of all his co-conspirators and becomes the sharpshooter who carries out instructions to the T.