The first day of the Pink-Ball Test between India and England in Motera didn’t turn out to be fruitful for the visitors as left-arm spinner Axar Patel destroyed their batting lineup almost single-handedly.
The 27-year-old registered his career best bowling figures of 6-38 to bowl England out for a paltry total of 112. This was also his second haul of five or more wickets following his five-for in the fourth innings of the second Test match in Chennai.
“When things are going for you, you need to capitalise. My aim was to bowl wicket to wicket and use the help on offer. In Chennai, the ball wasn’t skidding. But here it was skidding which resulted in more LBW decisions,” Axar said in a virtual press-conference after the day’s play.
“The pink ball had more glare, so it was skidding more after pitching. I got more skid on this wicket than Chennai,” he added.
“The Chennai performance gave me confidence that I can do well with pink ball and if the wickets supports, I can put the batsmen under difficulty.”
Axar also revealed that the ball wasn’t turning as much as it was expected and that’s why he, along with Ravichandran Ashwin, decided to bowl at the stumps. He was focused more on under-cutting his deliveries as the ball was skidding a lot.
“The wicket was skidding so I was focussing more on under-cutting the ball. I tried to bowl a lot faster so that I can take more advantage with the new ball,” he said.
Ashwin also continued his rich vein of form as he registered excellent bowling figures of 3-26 once again. Ishant Sharma, who was playing his 100th Test match, chipped in with a wicket too.
At the end of the day’s play, India finished on a score of 99/3 with Rohit Sharma (58*) and Ajinkya Rahane (1*) at the crease. India will be looking to put on a decent total on the board as they resume their innings on Day 2.
