Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], February 25 (ANI): The pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium has raised quite a few eyebrows as the third Test between India and England finished in two days. And while England skipper Joe Root didn’t directly criticise the wicket, he said that him bagging a fifer summed things up.
“I think it sums up the wicket, if I am getting a fifer. Congratulations to Ishant (Sharma) for 100 Tests and (Ravichandran) Ashwin for 400 Test wickets,” he said at the end of the game.
Root was also critical of the effort of the English batsmen in the first innings as they won the toss, looked on top at 74/2 before throwing it away.
“We were 70 for 2. But we didn’t really capitalise on it. 250 on that wicket would have made it different. We will come back using this hurt and come back as a better team,” the England captain said.
Commenting on the ball and how it skidded on, making it difficult for the batsmen, Root said: “The plastic coating on the ball gathered pace off the wicket. It was high-quality bowling as well. Both sides struggled on that wicket. We don’t define ourselves on a performance like this. We shouldn’t have any baggage from the previous games going into the last game. We have seen with the ball in hand, we can pick up wickets.”
Riding on brilliant spells of spin bowling from Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin, India registered a comprehensive 10-wicket win over England to go 2-1 up in the four-match series. In the end, English skipper Joe Root winning the toss and batting first meant nothing as the visitors were completely outplayed in the game.
Chasing 49 for a win, India raced home with 10 wickets in the bag as Rohit Sharma (25) and Shubman Gill (15) looked in a hurry to finish proceedings. Rohit finished it off in style by sending Root into the mid-wicket stands. But the star of the show was hometown boy Axar as he finished with 11 wickets in the game (six in the first innings and five in the second). Senior partner Ashwin wasn’t to be left too far behind as he picked four wickets to finish with 7 in the game. (ANI)
