CHENNAI: After taking a five-wicket haul in his debut Test match against England at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, India all-rounder Axar Patel said that variation in speed helped him to get better of English batters on the spin-heavy pitch.
Indian bowlers produced a sublime performance on day four as England only managed to score 164 runs in their second innings. Patel returned with the figures of 5-60 during England’s second innings while Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav scalped three and two wickets respectively.
Patel bagged a total of seven wickets in the game including two scalps in the first innings.

“It was a good experience, to get a five-wicket haul on debut is special. As Kuldeep said, there was much happening on the pitch. It was about varying your speed and I just kept doing it. Forced the batsman to make mistakes. On the first day itself, it was turning. So, we bowled tight lines and got the rewards,” Patel told host broadcaster Star Sports after the conclusion of the second Test.

Ashwin took an eight-wicket haul in the second Test, along with his 106-run knock in the second innings as India registered an emphatic 317-run win on Tuesday. India levelled the four-match Test series 1-1.
India remains in contention to make the final of the ICC World Test Championship after completing an impressive victory over England in the second Test to draw level in the four-match series.

The victory has lifted India to the second position with 69.7 percentage points on the points table but they cannot afford to lose another match as they need to win 2-1 or 3-1 to qualify for the final of the maiden edition of the championship.
England, who led the table after winning the opening Test, has slipped to the fourth spot with 67.0 percentage points. They can still qualify, but for that, they must win both remaining matches of the series against India.