Axar Patel and Virat Kohli
Indian skipper Virat Kohli was all praise for Axar Patel on Thursday after the spinner picked 11 wickets for 70 runs in India's emphatic 10-wicket win against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Axar picked six wickets in the first innings en route to his maiden fi-fer in Test cricket and first for India in Day/Night Tests and picked five more to become the bowler with most wickets in a single Pink Ball game while becoming the 16th Indian bowler to take a fi-fer in both the innings of a Test.
Kohli, in the post-match presentation, revealed that Axar's heroics left Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah hilariously complaining about the lack of bowling opportunities in the third Test.
"Bumrah said I am getting workload management while playing. Ishant said I am playing my 100th game and still don't get to bowl. I have never experienced this before. A bizzare game which got over in 2 days. A lot of people were relieved when Jaddu got injured. But then this guy ( Axar Patel) comes in. Bowls it quicker and from a bigger height as well. I don't know what is it with Gujarat and producing so many left arm spinners," said Kohli.
Axar had missed the opener after incurring an injury but returned to play the next two games wherein he picked 18 wickets at 9.44 with a strike rate of 25.8.
"You just cannot sweep this guy but you also can't keep defending as he would just keep bowling at you. If the wicket has something in it, Axar is very lethal," said Kohli.
The Indian spin attack picked 18 wickets with Ashwin bagging the remaining seven as the hosts wrapped up the game in less than six sessions, making it the shortest game in post-war era in terms of deliveries bowled.
