India vs England, 2nd Test: Axar Patel says bowling at right speed helped him grab 5 wickets on debut

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Chennai, February 16: Axar Patel made his Test debut a memorable affair, taking five wickets and propelling India to a massive 317-run win over England in the second Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Tuesday (February 16).

England were bowled out for 164 in their second shortly into the second session on Day 4 as India levelled the four-match series 1-1. Axar was obviously pleased with his effort.

"It feels so good to pick up five wickets on debut. There was a lot of help for the spinners, so it was important to bowl at the right speed, because if you were too slow, there was time to adjust. So, I was bowling stump-to-stump, and waiting for errors from the batsmen. Even if we had bowled first, I don't think it would have made a big difference because there was a lot of help from the pitch even on the first day," said Axar during the presentation ceremony.

Kuldeep Yadav too made a mark in the Test taking two wickets in England's second innings. "It's very important when your team is doing well, to keep giving them support. Axar and Ashwin were bowling very well, so my job was to maintain that control. It felt like a debut for me, because I've not played for so long.

"Bowling in a match is very different, no matter how much you bowl at the nets. I always speak to Ash bhai a lot, even during the Australia tour. He was telling me a lot about where to bowl to which batsmen, what shots they like to play. Even in my debut series we had lost the first Test against Australia in Pune. Then we lost in Adelaide as well, and you saw the morale of the team even after that defeat. We are always prepared to come back and perform in the next match. Even Rishabh's keeping was brilliant today."