Local boy Axar Patel had a blast on Day 1 of the third Test at his home ground in Ahmedabad when he picked up six wickets in the first innings of the pink-ball Test. He finished with figures of 6/38, helping India bowl out England for just 112 runs.
Patel took his second five-wicket haul in as many matches and accounted for the wickets of Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad.
While doing so he became the first Indian spinner to take a five-for in Day-Night Test and sixth overall. This stands as the second-best bowling figure by a spinner in Day-Night Tests after Devendra Bishoo's 8 for 49 against Pakistan in Dubai in 2016.
Along with Axar, Ravichandran Ashwin too was among the key wicket-takers as he dismissed Joe Root, Ollie Pope and Jack Leach.
The spinners, unlike in the Kolkata Test in November 2019 against Bangladesh - which was also a Pink-Ball Test - bowled 37.4 overs in the first innings which comprised almost 78 per cent of the deliveries bowled by India.
In the first Pink-Ball Test in India, the spinners bowled just one over in the first innings and four more in the second. Ishant Sharma was the only pacer to have managed a wicket in the first innings.
As for the day-night Test, England, who had opted to bat first in Ahmedabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium were folded for just 112. Crawley was the only stand-out batsman with his attacking 84-ball knock of 53 runs.
