Australia’s left-arm spinner Ashton Agar has admitted that he loved watching India’s Axar Patel bowl in the recent Test match against England with the pink-ball at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. Axar Patel picked fifers in both innings of the Test to route England for 112 and 81, as India won the match by 10 wickets.
Though there was a lot of controversy and discussions about the Motera pitch for the day-night encounter, Axar Patel’s bowling received universal accolades as he returned figures of 11/70. In the previous Test as well, Axar had picked a fifer, which was also his debut Test in Chennai.
Axar Patel Credits:ANI
India is 2-1 up in the four-match series, after winning the second Test in Chennai by 317 runs and the third Test in Ahmedabad by 10 wickets. Ashton Agar also shared his views of the surfaces used in the Test series thus far.
Loved Watching Axar Patel Bowl: Ashton Agar
Australia left-arm spinner Ashton Agar admitted that he loves watching Test matches in the sub-continent and in fact expected the wickets to behave similarly as it did. He also praised India spinner Axar Patel, pinpointing why he was such a success with the ball.
“I love watching cricket in the sub-continent. That is the greatest cricket to watch in the sub-continent as a spinner. Loved watching Axar Patel bowl. He was able to just hit the shiny side of the ball and get a few to go off the wicket,” Agar told reporters on Monday.
“That’s the most lethal one because you are expecting them to turn so much. He would have got maybe 10 of his wickets in the last couple of Tests with the straighter ones. Pretty exciting stuff, hopefully, the pitches stay this way in the subcontinent. It makes for really exciting cricket,” Agar added.
I Am Excited To Play Test Cricket In Subcontinent: Ashton Agar
Agar further said that he is excited to play cricket in India given that the pitches in the subcontinent are extremely supportive for class spin bowling which thrive in such conditions. Agar also explained the dynamics of bowling from a left-arm spinner’s point of view.
Ashton Agar, (Credits: Twitter)
“The key to bowling in the sub-continent is accuracy and consistency, hitting the stumps every ball. One might turn and one might not. Sometimes, if you don’t know what the ball is going to do as a bowler. The batsman has absolutely no idea. However, Axar seemed to do it quite a lot of times. I am keen to play around with that after watching that,” Agar added.
Also Read: Axar Patel’s Arm-Ball Is A Left-Arm Spinner’s Weapon, Says Former Motera Pitch Curator Dhiraj Parsana
