Axar Patel made his first mark in the India vs England Test series in a stunning fashion. The left-arm spinner castled England’s Jonny Bairstow with a ripper, leaving the batter perplexed and stunned.
Bairstow had a struggling time against Axar Patel in the 2021 Test series in India, when he managed only 14 runs in 44 balls, getting out twice to the left-armer. The ghosts of that series might have returned in the mind of Bairstow as Axar needed only 13 balls to Bairstow to get him out again.
While in the previous series it was the straighter deliveries from Axar Patel that troubled Jonny Bairstow and the England batters, this time he rocked Bairstow’s off-stump with the one that turned, before beating the outside.
Bairstow had looked so much more confident and adept at handling the spinners today than he did in the 2021 series. He creamed 5 fours in his knock of 37 runs in 58 balls, showcasing good batsmanship on the backfoot. However, on the ball that he came a bit forward to Axar, he lost his off-stump.
The ball pitched on the middle on the fuller part of the length patch, inviting Bairstow for a forward defence. But it turned just enough to beat the batter’s outside edge, but not enough to miss the off-stump, and thudded into the top of off.
Bairstow looked stunned initially, so confused that he had to take a look back at the stumps and with the Indians celebrating, he realised he had been bowled.
Watch: Axar Patel bowled Jonny Bairstow with a beauty
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁. 𝗪𝗮𝘀. 𝗔. 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁! ⚡️ ⚡️@akshar2026 with his first wicket of the match 👏 👏
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— BCCI (@BCCI) January 25, 2024
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes(c), Ben Foakes(w), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Jack Leach
