India vs England 2021: Hats Off To Ravichandran Ashwin; Axar Patel Was Simply Brilliant - Rohit Sharma Lauds The Spinners For Dismantling The England Batting Line-up

Rohit Sharma was in all praise for India’s new spin pair of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel. Patel is playing in place of the injured Ravindra Jadeja. India romped to another home Test victory in Ahmedabad in the day-night contest with a 10-wicket win over England.

R Ashwin was inevitably amongst the wickets in home conditions, as he snared 7 in the game. En route, he also picked his 400 Test wicket, becoming only the fourth Indian after Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, and Harbhajan Singh to reach the landmark.

He is also the second quickest, in terms of matches played, to 400 scalps achieving it in his 77th Test, only behind the Sri Lankan legend, Muttiah Muralitharan who reached there in five fewer Tests.

Rohit Sharma, speaking in the press conference, lavished rich praise on the Tamil Nadu off-spinner and hailed him as one of the biggest match-winners India ever had. He also pointed out Ashwin’s batting contribution in the second Test in Chennai.

“Ashwin is probably one of the match-winners, if not ‘the match-winner, of the Indian cricket history…has won so many games for us. Big congratulations to him to get to that milestone. It must be a great feeling for him as well.

‘To do that in his 77th Test match, it is a great feat. Hats off to him and not to forget his contribution with the bat in the series as well. He has done remarkably well and obviously, the team relies on him a lot,” Rohit Sharma said.

Axar has got a solid skillset: Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma, who scored 66 and 25* on a difficult batting surface, spoke highly of Axar Patel, who picked two five-wicket hauls in the game, which was only his second Test, after bagging his maiden five-for in his debut Test in Chennai.

At the moment, Axar has 18 wickets as an astonishing average of just 9.44 – he didn’t let the Indian team and its fans miss Ravindra Jadeja with his tight wicket-to-wicket bowling, which is what Rohit Sharma praised the left-arm bowler about.

“Axar was simply brilliant… He understands the conditions really well. He knows how to vary the pace and what lines to bowl, which is very, very important as a bowler. To understand your line to the right-handers and to the left-handers is very important.

“What he did brilliantly in this game was that he made the batters play most of the balls, which is always important on a wicket like that… It all goes to his skill set and he has got a solid skillset,” the opener added.

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