England pacer Ollie Robinson on Saturday (August 28) revealed that he learnt wobble seam delivery from his legendary teammate James Anderson and it gave him a perfect result in the third Test against India.
Robinson ran through the Indian batting line-up with the second new ball on the fourth morning, returning with the figures of 5/65 as the hosts won the third Test by an innings and 76 runs to level the five-match series 1-1.
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"I noticed Jimmy holding his wobble grip slightly differently. I was holding it from the other side so I spoke to him and just tried to practice it in the nets," Robinson told reporters after his Player-of-the-Match performance at Headingley.
"It went quite nicely, so I tried it in the game and it worked quite well. It's something I need to practice a bit more. This learning opportunity is invaluable for me at this stage in my career and luckily it came off today."
"Obviously, it's great to open the bowling with Jimmy and build pressure on both ends. I enjoyed it and hopefully I can continue."
Team India were 215/2 at stumps on Day 3, trailing the hosts by 139 runs in the second innings with Cheteshwar Pujara (91) and Virat Kohli (45) unbeaten in the middle. However, Pujara failed to add to his overnight tally while Kohli scored 55 and rest of the batters crumbled under pressure as India’s innings folded for 278.
Robinson, who dismissed both Pujara and Kohli to trigger the collapse, further said: "It feels like a very special day, I don't quite feel like it's settled in yet. For me, it's one of the great days in my cricket career, to get my first Test win is really special."
On taking the prized scalp of the Indian captain, he said: "It is an amazing feeling. The crowds here were unbelievable. The noise when we got Kohli out was deafening, just an unbelievable experience and feeling to get that wicket."
Two months back, Ollie Robinson was suspended for his old racist tweets and the Sussex pacer’s future with England cricket was uncertain.
After his apology, Robinson earned a recall for the Trent Bridge Test, where he claimed his maiden five-wicket haul.
"It's off the back of quite a few hard years, I've had to work hard to get here and do a lot of extra to get here so to get the rewards in the last four four Test matches has been very pleasing," the 27-year-old said.
"When you are performing obviously the scrutiny is off you a little bit. It (the racist tweet episode) is still quite fresh in my memory and I'm trying to work on becoming a better person."
(With PTI inputs)
