India's left-arm spinner Akshar Patel picked up eleven wickets in the third Test against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. He troubled the English batsmen a lot with his consistently tight line and length which resulted in wickets.
Former India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar talked about the factor which helped Akshar get more wickets. He found the same factor missing in England spinner Jack Leach's bowling and the bowling figure of both bowlers says it all.
Overall, Indian spinners (Akshar, R Ashwin, and Washington Sundar) bagged 19 wickets in the match. One wicket was picked by pacer Ishant Sharma in the first innings. Akshar's figures in the two innings were 6/38 and 5/32, which shows his complete dominance.
“When a left-arm spinner is bowling to a right-hander, then he cannot bowl outside off stump. The length is important but the line becomes even more important. So the line of a left-arm spinner against a right-handed batsman has to be on off and middle so you cannot leave the ball,” Tendulkar said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
“Even if the ball is turning, you have to play because the odd one will go through and that is what happened. There were batters who were looking to play marginally behind the line and there were those who were trying to cover the spin. The ones who tried to cover were either bowled or out LBW.”
For England, Joe Root bagged 5/8 in the first innings which triggered a collapse, and India were bowled out on 145 after losing five wickets for 11 runs. They were 99/3 at one stage but couldn't last too long.
Leach managed to pick four wickets in the first innings but he wasn't as accurate as Akshar. He also leaked 54 runs in 20 overs on a track that was spinner's paradise.
"The left-arm spinner’s speed, the trajectory, the angle becomes important. It’s not one of those surfaces where you’ll toss the ball up and then as we say buy a wicket. If the wicket is offering assistance, what you need to do is not give batsmen enough time to adjust," Tendulkar said.
“And Axar was brilliant at that. Since we’re talking of left-arm spinners, I did not find Leach doing that consistently. He was still trying to toss up the ball, but on this surface, you need to push the ball through a bit", pointed out Sachin.
