IND vs ENG, 1st Test: Axar delighted with Bairstow’s dismissal

Axar also lauded the way young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal unsettled the England spinners by taking on them from the word go

Hyderabad: Indian spinner Axar Patel produced a dream delivery to dismiss the English wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow and the southpaw said that he enjoyed the dismissal a lot.

Speaking after the first day’s play of the first Test against England in Hyderabad, the all-rounder said, “That delivery really came off well. We were talking if it turns from there then it would be great because the odd ball was turning. Bairstow took a stance on the fourth wicket to avoid the lbw.”

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“So, 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 and you would have seen my celebration,” he added.

Axar also lauded the way young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal unsettled the England spinners by taking on them from the word go. “We enjoyed the way Yashasvi was batting and he took on the spinners from the very first over. It was very good to unsettle them early.”

Talking about his role in the team given that R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were the main bowlers, Axar said, “I have learned a lot from seniors Ash and Jaddu bhai. I was trying to control the game from my end as they were bowling in partnership. They were taking wickets, so, I was not thinking about taking wickets. I know that if you are playing three spinners then one of them will get a lesser number of overs. They were also telling me what was happening on the wicket and what I should do. It is a privilege to bowl with them,” he added.

He also revealed that the pitch didn’t behave oddly on the first day. “There is spin but the wicket is slow and we know that we did well to restrict them to 246. We can adjust to it as the ball is getting slow after pitching. Yeah, it is a bit challenging as well for the batters but if you bat well then you can make runs here.”

Meanwhile, England opener Ben Duckett felt that they had posted a decent total until Indian openers played in the fashion that put the hosts in control. “I think we”re over par. It was a tricky Day 1 pitch with consistent spin from earlier on. Stokes was fantastic. I just said come down Day 3, Day 4, that could be a match winning knock if that pitch keeps getting harder to bat on,” said Duckett.

However, he also lauded Indian openers. “Credit to them. They played really well and were very attacking. You know, they don”t always go about it like that. So, to go about it that way it shows that they probably think the pitch is going to get quite a bit worse,” said Duckett.