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HYDERABAD: Left-arm spinner Axar Patel was preferred over Kuldeep Yadav in India’s playing XI and was the most economical bowler on the first day.
With the outfield being fast and batsmen getting good value for their shots on a wicket that showed no sign of excessive spin, it was Axar who effected the crucial breakthrough that terminated the 61-run, fourth-wicket partnership between Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow.
“I don’t think the pitch has excessive spin, it’s just normal spin,” said Axar. “The pitch is slow and the ball is getting slower after pitching. It is a bit challenging for the batters but if you bat well, you can make runs here. It is challenging for the bowlers because you can go for runs if you err in line and length.”
Axar clearly enjoyed the dismissal of Bairstow. “That delivery came off well. The way Bairstow took stance on the fourth wicket to avoid LBW, I thought of bowling at the stumps because he did cut a few shots close to the stumps. That was the plan and the one that turned from there was good. You saw my celebration,” he said.
The 30-year-old had a splendid series when England last visited in 2021. That time, he made the most of Ravindra Jadeja’s absence to claim 27 wickets in the series. “That series was good for me, but I am not thinking too much about it. It is not like that this series too will be good for me because I did well in 2021.
“We knew that England would be playing attacking cricket. But I was not thinking about what shots batsmen would play as I was thinking about my own line and length on whis wicket,” he said.
He also said the Indian camp enjoyed the way Yashasvi Jaiswal unsettled the Englishmen, playing conventional shots. “They were playing sweep and reverse sweep. We had talked about this and had a plan for this. It’s good that they wanted to attack, and it gave us a chance of getting them out,” he added.
With the outfield being fast and batsmen getting good value for their shots on a wicket that showed no sign of excessive spin, it was Axar who effected the crucial breakthrough that terminated the 61-run, fourth-wicket partnership between Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow.
“I don’t think the pitch has excessive spin, it’s just normal spin,” said Axar. “The pitch is slow and the ball is getting slower after pitching. It is a bit challenging for the batters but if you bat well, you can make runs here. It is challenging for the bowlers because you can go for runs if you err in line and length.”
Axar clearly enjoyed the dismissal of Bairstow. “That delivery came off well. The way Bairstow took stance on the fourth wicket to avoid LBW, I thought of bowling at the stumps because he did cut a few shots close to the stumps. That was the plan and the one that turned from there was good. You saw my celebration,” he said.
The 30-year-old had a splendid series when England last visited in 2021. That time, he made the most of Ravindra Jadeja’s absence to claim 27 wickets in the series. “That series was good for me, but I am not thinking too much about it. It is not like that this series too will be good for me because I did well in 2021.
“We knew that England would be playing attacking cricket. But I was not thinking about what shots batsmen would play as I was thinking about my own line and length on whis wicket,” he said.
He also said the Indian camp enjoyed the way Yashasvi Jaiswal unsettled the Englishmen, playing conventional shots. “They were playing sweep and reverse sweep. We had talked about this and had a plan for this. It’s good that they wanted to attack, and it gave us a chance of getting them out,” he added.
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