Axar Patel ruled out any spin demons from the pitch after India shot out England for 246 in 64.3 overs on the opening day of the first Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. India, in reply, was 119/1 in 23 overs with opener Yashasvi Jaiswal hammering an unbeaten half-century.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja shared six wickets each, and Axar picked up two wickets as the trio laid a spin trap on a slow surface that aided turn.
“We knew that the wicket was good, and some balls were spinning while others were not. The wicket is slow, but we are able to adjust. I think 246 is a good total that we restricted England to, and the plan was to play normal cricket and not try anything different,” Axar said at the post-match press conference.
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Speaking on the pitch where England batters struggled, Axar said: “The wicket isn’t spinning viciously, and it’s normal. As I said, it’s slow, but the ball isn’t skidding, and we are able to adjust. It’s a challenging wicket for both bowlers and batsmen, as we need to maintain a good line and length; otherwise, with a quick outfield, we will leak runs. Similarly, for the batsmen, they need to adjust, and then runs will come.”
Axar picked a crucial wicket, dismissing Jonny Bairstow with a peach of a delivery and provided India with an important breakthrough by breaking the fifty-run stand between Bairstow and Joe Root. The left-arm spinner flummoxed the batsman with a delivery that landed around the middle stump and then spun away, beating Bairstow’s outside edge and clipping the top of the off stump.
Speaking on his bowling, Axar said, “I just wanted to bowl according to how the wicket was behaving, and my focus was only on how I was going to bowl rather than what the batsman was thinking.”
Yashasvi Jaiswal was off the blocks in a flash as the opener hammered an unbeaten 70-ball 76 as India reached 119/1 at stumps, trailing England by just 127 runs. Axar said he enjoyed watching the youngster take on the England bowlers.
“I really enjoyed Yashasvi bat and he really took off from the very first over and never allowed the bowler to settle,” he said.
The all-rounder further stated that he enjoys bowling along with Jadeja and Ashwin and that their inputs help him improvise his bowling.
“To bowl alongside Ashwin and Jaddu bhai, I feel very good. I don’t bowl with the mindset that I have to get wickets, as when you are playing with three spinners, you know that you will be getting fewer overs. So yeah, I learn from watching them bowl together in a partnership, and I also try to do the same when I get the chance. We have a lot of conversations and love playing with them,” he said.
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