India cricket team captain Virat Kohli was all praise for his all-rounder Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin as the duo propelled India to their biggest Test win over England in terms of runs.
After Ashwin's gritty 106 runs saw India set up a 482-run target for England on Day 3, debutant Axar Patel came firing all cylinders and took a five-fer to win the match for India on Tuesday, February 16. And Kohli was impressed by the maturity and skill shown by Patel in his first Test match
“It's a special, special moment for Axar. He'd have played the first game too if not for a niggle. He bowls fast and is all smiles, and hopefully, he builds it here from here on,” Virat Kohli said in the post-match presentation.
“Ashwin batted outstandingly well and in the second half I decided not to go after runs and I'm going to trust my defence to get me out of trouble,” the skipper further added.
Picking up the all-important wicket of Joe Root in both the innings, Patel was clearly the difference-maker with the ball for India. Apart from the England captain, Patel took the scalps of Moeen Ali, Dom Sibley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope and Olly Stone in two innings.
And the bowler revealed patience was the key to his success in Chennai.
“It feels so good to pick up five wickets on debut. There was a lot of help for the spinners, so it was important to bowl at the right speed because if you were too slow, there was time to adjust. So, I was bowling stump-to-stump, and waiting for errors from the batsmen,” Axar Patel said after the match.
England cricket team captain Joe Root praised India for their brilliant comeback display and felt his side was outplayed in all the departments. However, he is willing to learn from the loss and bounce back in the remaining two Test matches.
“We have to learn from this and find ways to score in these conditions and bowl six balls to one better,” Joe Root said after the match.
“On day one, we could have been tighter and made it harder for them to score freely as they did. We're 1-1 in the series and there are two important games in the series. We played very well in the first Test, so we're in the series.
Feature Image Courtesy: AFP/ Saeed Khan
We have to stay level and understand we have played good cricket in the recent past. We have to learn quickly and that's something we've done in the recent past,” Root added.
Feature Image Courtesy: AFP/ Saeed Khan
