While former England cricketers raised questions over the quality of the pitch in the recently concluded third Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Australia cricketers were left impressed with the spin it witnessed with the pink ball. Australia spinner Ashton Agar on Monday said he loved watching Axar Patel bowl in the third Test, that ended within two days.

Agar, who is also a left-arm spinner, was specifically impressed with how Axar used the shiny part of the ball to bowl straighter ones which turned out to be the most lethal deliveries.

“Have loved watching Axar Patel bowl. There was an article recently that spoke a lot about how he was able to just hit the shiny side of the ball and get a few to go straight and often they are the most lethal ones because you are expecting them to turn so much,” Sydney Morning Herald quoted Agar as saying.

“He would have got maybe 10 of his wickets in the last couple of Tests with straight balls,” he added.

Promoted

Axar had hogged the limelight when he picked a five-wicket haul in his debut match in the longest format of the game last month, but his standout performance came in the pink-ball Test.

Playing in just his second Test, the left-arm spinner scalped five wickets on the second day of the day-night Test last week to help India register an easy win. This was Axar’s third five-wicket haul in a row as he had picked a fifer in the second innings of the second Test before picking 11 wickets in the third Test (six in the first and five in the second innings).