Published: Feb 24, 2021, 07:43 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 24, 2021, 07:43 PM (IST)
Left-arm spinner Axar Patel carried his immaculate bowling form from Chennai to Ahmedabad as he continues to torment English batsmen with his spin and guile in the pink-ball third Test at the newly-built Narendra Modi Stadium. Axar combined with more experienced Ravichandran Ashwin shot England out for just 112 inside two sessions on day 1 of the day-night Test. Patel ended the innings with 6/38 – his second consecutive five-for, following his 5/60 in the second innings of the second Test in Chennai. With this, the 27-year-old joined an elusive list of spinners and become only the third Indian spinner to pick up five-wicket hauls in the first two Test matches for the country. Mohammad Nissar and Narendra Hirwani are the other two Indian spinners who had achieved the feat in the past.
After being put into bowl first, Axar was on the right on the money from ball one and looked most threatening with the arm ball that straightened up to deceive the England batters. He dismissed Jonny Bairstow, Zak Crawley, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, and Stuart Broad to complete his second five-wicket haul. He also became the first Indian spinner to take a fifer in Day-Night Test and sixth overall.
Along with Axar, Ashwin also picked up three wickets and continued his sublime bowling form. The senior off-spinner accounted for wickets of England captain Joe Root, Ollie Pope and Jack Leach. Earlier, veteran pacer Ishant Sharma opened the floodgates in his milestone 100th match on the opening day of the day-night third Test with the wicket of Dom Sibley for a duck.
Ishant, only the second Indian fast bowler after Kapil Dev to play in 100 Tests, fittingly took India’s first wicket in the third over as he dismissed opener Sibley for nought.
2⃣1⃣.4⃣-6⃣-3⃣8⃣-6⃣! 👏👏@akshar2026 was on a roll with the ball and ran through the England batting line-up on Day 1 of the third @Paytm #INDvENG Test. 👌👌 #TeamIndia #PinkBallTest
Watch his sensational bowling display 🎥👇https://t.co/xyqLVL3uAy pic.twitter.com/9SvwMFDOPb
BCCI (@BCCI) February 24, 2021
Thereafter, it was all Ashwin and Patel show as the duo bamboozled the England batsmen to complete the submission, except for the other opener Zak Crawley, who hit an eminently delectable half-century. Six English wickets fell in the second session.
England did not have any substantial partnership with the 47-run stand for the third wicket being the highest. They lost their last seven wickets for just 38 runs.
Crawley’s brilliance was, however, neutralised by the Indian spinners as England were left reeling at 81 for 4 going into tea after an exciting opening session in the pink ball Test.
Two wickets fell in as many overs after the resumption of the second session, with Ashwin and Patel taking one each, to reduce England to 81 for 6.
Ashwin sent Ollie Pope’s (1) off-stump cart-wheeling with a beauty of a delivery, bowling round the wicket, before Patel trapped Ben Stokes (6) LBW in the next over with a ball that spun in.
Jofra Archer (11) did a tad better as he hit a four in the second ball he faced and another boundary off Ashwin. But, Patel had him soon, cleaning up his off-stump to send England innings into a mess.
England’s rapid slide continued with Jack Leach edging one to the gully where Cheteshwar Pujara took a low catch off Ashwin, though the TV umpire took time to confirm the decision.
Crawley’s effort was the only silver lining for England. Having missed the first two Tests due to a freak wrist injury, the stylish right-hander’s driving was elegance personified as he hit 10 boundaries during his 84-ball 53.
