24/02Result
3rd Test (D/N), England tour of India at Ahmedabad, Feb 24-25 2021
India won by 10 wkts
Player of the Match
Axar Patel
Axar PatelIndia
24/02Result
3rd Test (D/N), England tour of India at Ahmedabad, Feb 24-25 2021
India won by 10 wkts
Player of the Match
Axar Patel
Axar PatelIndia

S Rajesh who leads our stats team: In the last 50 years, only the 6th time that England have lasted fewer than 50 overs in the first innings after winning the toss and choosing to bat

6.15 pm Well, 112 is not the kind of total you'd want after winning the toss. But on the bright side, England's fast bowlers might not mind running in with a new cherry at twilight time. They'd still stare daggers at their batsmen for the way they crumbled against spin - or more accurately lack of spin. It's been the straighter ball that's been their undoing and that's possibly because they seem to have made a decision to play spin off the back foot a lot more. In the first Test, when they committed to sweeping India, and charging at their spinners, they had unsettled them. Here, they became sitting ducks on a pitch that was quick. You can play back on a slow subcontinent pitch, but you cannot, simply cannot, play back on a quick subcontinent pitch.

Steve Walters: "Ok spinners got 9 of the 10 wickets. So this means Leach will open the bowling and remain unchanged during the entire Indian innings while Root rotates the seamers at the other end..."

Manjunath HR: "England 80/3 to 112 all out! Succumbed to pressure more than pitch" My bet is still on poor planning

Jiten Surtani: "It's that sort of a pitch and conditions where even after getting your opponent out for 112 runs, the commentator still says that the opponent's bowlers would love to come out and bowl during this period. " Pink ball cricket, dude! It's sooooo weird!

Kartik Aiyer: "With all the difficulty of batting at Twilight in D/N tests, Eng have managed to avoid it altogether. Cunning plan"

48.4
W
Patel to Foakes, OUT, knocks him over! He is too quick to play back too. He skids through. He's dangerous. And he has six wickets now. Lovely bowling from the left-arm spinner. Its like he's channelling Ravindra Jadeja ever since he put on his Test cap. And now he has a Ravindra Jadeja wicket too. A flatter ball that persuades the batsman to go on the back foot - Foakes then tries to cut and playing these kinds of bowlers with a horizontal bat is so so dangerous - but it then kisses the pitch and surges through to mess up his stumps

BT Foakes b Patel 12 (82m 58b 1x4 0x6) SR: 20.68

48.3
0
Patel to Foakes, no run, goes a little more round-arm than normal for a pitched up delivery on middle and leg, Foakes plays the angle and nudges towards midwicket
48.2
0
Patel to Foakes, no run, full on middle, Foakes gets a long stride and defends with a straight bat
48.1
0
Patel to Foakes, no run, loops it up on middle and leg, Foakes gets forward to block and instead finds an inside edge to fine leg

END OF OVER:
48 | 6 Runs | ENG: 112/9

  • James Anderson0 (3b)
  • Ben Foakes12 (54b)
  • Jasprit Bumrah6-3-19-0
  • Axar Patel21-6-38-5
47.6
0
Bumrah to Anderson, no run, pin-point yorker, angled in from around the wicket, surging through towards middle stump, but Anderson is staunchly in the way. Gorgeous TV!

Manas: "Rohit and Gill must be hoping that the last wickets lasts another 30 mins to avoid facing the English quicks during the twilight period"

47.5
0
Bumrah to Anderson, no run, Anderson doesn't fancy facing Bumrah under the lights. He's set up all wrong. He's flinching as the ball passes his bat - a short ball outside off
47.4
1
Bumrah to Foakes, 1 run, opens the face and guides the shortish delivery outside off through vacant point
47.3
0
Bumrah to Foakes, no run, goes for the bouncer which Foakes pulls to deep square leg. He doesn't take the run though
47.2
0
Bumrah to Foakes, no run, back of a length on middle, knocks it down
47.2
1nb
Bumrah to Foakes, 1 no ball, blocks out a fullish delivery on off stump. No-ball called, but it almost looked like a teensy bit of his boot was behind the line
47.1
4
Bumrah to Foakes, FOUR, looks for the yorker, but doesn't quite get it right, the ball sliding onto the pads. Foakes pulls his front leg out of the way and flicks it through to the midwicket boundary

Hurrah! A fast bowler is on!

Anuj: "37-12-64-8 till now between Ash and Axar on Day 1 of a Pink Ball Test is something very very special. "

AbdulAleem : "I am already thinking indias tour to England. Will India pick both jadeja and axar. Sure enough Axar is making a compelling case!"

END OF OVER:
47 | 2 Runs 1 Wkt | ENG: 106/9

  • James Anderson0 (1b)
  • Ben Foakes7 (49b)
  • Axar Patel21-6-38-5
  • Ravichandran Ashwin16-6-26-3
46.6
0
Patel to Anderson, no run, good length ball outside off, Anderson defends, gets a bit of an outside edge to third man
46.5
1
Patel to Foakes, 1 run, looks to flick a full ball angled into leg stump, but he's not quite to the pitch and that means the grip and turn produces a leading edge to mid-off
46.4
0
Patel to Foakes, no run, eases it towards the covers

Sampath Bandarupalli from our stats team: Five-wicket hauls in first two Test matches for India: Mohammad Nissar, Narendra Hirwani, Axar Patel.

46.3
W
Patel to Broad, OUT, caaaaaaatch is the cry and it's taken at deep square leg! Axar Patel has five-fors in back to back Test matches. He slows this down. He lures Broad into a big sweep. It goes up in the air and it lands safely in the hands of Bumrah out there in the deep. Beautiful stuff from the left-arm spinner. His variations - using the big turner to set up the batsmen but knocking them over with the straight ball - have been exceptional. Axar gets a big boy handshake and a big ol bear hug from 100-Test man Ishant Sharma

SCJ Broad c Bumrah b Patel 3 (31m 29b 0x4 0x6) SR: 10.34

46.2
0
Patel to Broad, no run, goes back and across on his crease as a good length ball spins into him from outside off and flicks to midwicket

Vijay: "Is Axar quicker than Sir Jaddu in finishing off an over ?" --- I get the distinct feeling he is

46.1
1
Patel to Foakes, 1 run, plays late and since he has quick hands, he's able to guide the good length ball looking for the top of off stump towards third man

END OF OVER:
46 | (maiden) | ENG: 104/8

  • Stuart Broad3 (27b)
  • Ben Foakes5 (46b)
  • Ravichandran Ashwin16-6-26-3
  • Axar Patel20-6-36-4
45.6
0
Ashwin to Broad, no run, slips down leg as Ashwin goes looking for the magic ball that spins from one side to the other
45.5
0
Ashwin to Broad, no run, gets the chance to drive and goes full on after it, can't beat cover
45.4
0
Ashwin to Broad, no run, full on middle and off, he defends

Match Coverage

All Match News