Left-arm spinner Akshar Patel once again displayed his excellence with the ball as India bundled out England for a paltry 112 in their first innings on Day 1 of the pink ball Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday (February 24).
Playing his second Test, Akshar exploited the turning pitch brilliantly and returned with the figures of 6 for 38. Zak Crawley (53), Jonny Bairstow (0), Ben Stokes (6), Ben Foakes (12), Jofra Archer (11) and Stuart Broad (3) were his victims.
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Speaking after the day’s play, Akshar said his plan to bowl wicket-to-wicket on a "skidding" surface gave him fruitful results.
"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," he said at the press conference
"The pink ball had more glare, so it was skidding more after pitching. I got more skid on this wicket than Chennai."
Akshar said his confidence was sky-high after his performance in the second Test at Chepauk, where he claimed a five-wicket haul on debut.
"I didn't expect to pick six wickets on the opening day but obviously, I was confident after picking up five wickets in Chennai," he said.
"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."
Apart from him, veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also played his part with the ball, picking up 3 wickets by conceding 26 runs in his 16 overs.
Akshar revealed that contrary to expectations, the ball was not turning much and that's why he and Ashwin concentrated on bowling at the stumps.
"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.
India finished the opening day on 99/3, trailing England by 13 runs. While Rohit Sharma remained unbeaten on 57, Ajinkya Rahane was batting on 1 not out.
(With PTI inputs)
