Dinesh Karthik, the experienced wicketkeeper-batter, expressed his opinion that the trio of Indian spinners—Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja—were not in peak form on Day 1 of the first Test against England. Karthik suggested that the bowlers benefited from a favorable pitch and several English batters who squandered their wickets. Despite this, Ashwin, Jadeja, and Axar collectively secured eight wickets out of the 10 that England lost.
England gave a lot of wickets away- Dinesh Karthik
“To be honest, all three didn’t bowl at their best. I don’t think it was their best day. It was more of England giving away a few wickets, and the pitch in itself being hard enough to bat. It wasn’t one that you couldn’t bat on, but it wasn’t something that was too simple to bat on as well, quite challenging for team that is touring,”
Dinesh Karthik praised left-arm spinner Axar Patel as the standout performer among Indian spinners on Day 1, emphasizing his ability to create difficulties for England’s batsmen with his disciplined bowling.
“Out of the three, if I had to pick, Axar Patel was very menacing. In the short time, he produced balls that batters would find really hard to play. If you had a bad defence, you could get away with the way Ashwin and Jadeja bowled to a decent extent, but if you’re playing Axar Patel wrong, chances are you will get out,”
“That is the ball of the day because it came in such an innocuous way, and to an extent, against the run of play, you don’t realize how good a ball is. That was one of those that if a batsman had stood in the crease, he would have been opened up completely and gotten beaten because there is no chance if somebody bowls around the wicket into the middle and leg and the ball seams away hit the middle and off, it is impossible to play,”
“Because he stepped out and went outside the line, the ball actually didn’t get enough credit. It’s not something that Jasprit Bumrah could’ve planned. It hit one of those cracks and moved,” he added.
In reply to England’s score of 246 runs, India concluded the first day at 119/1. Yashasvi Jaiswal played a standout innings, finishing the day unbeaten with a remarkable score of 76.