Axar Patel Scripts History, Becomes First India Spinner To Take 100 T20I Wickets
Indian all-rounder Axar Patel made history on Saturday, becoming the first spinner from Team India to reach 100 T20I wickets and only the fourth bowler to do so.
Indian all-rounder Axar Patel made history on Saturday, becoming the first spinner from Team India to reach 100 T20I wickets and only the fourth bowler to do so. During the second T20I against England in Manchester, Axar trapped the dangerous Harry Brook for a 15-ball 39 as England chased a competitive 191-run total. Now, Axar stands as India's fourth-highest T20I wicket-taker, with 100 scalps in 98 matches. In the top three are Arshdeep Singh (134 scalps), Jasprit Bumrah (121 scalps) and Hardik Pandya (114 wickets).
Coming to the match, India opted to bat first and handed 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi a much-anticipated international debut, making him the youngest Indian international cricketer at 15 years and 99 days.
Sooryavanshi lasted only 10 balls, scoring 14 on his debut with two sixes. Meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma (43 off 24 balls, with eight fours and a six) and Shreyas Iyer (37 off 22 balls, with three fours and a six) played entertaining knocks.
Ishan Kishan (49 off 40 balls, with six fours) put on 65 runs for the third wicket with Iyer. Following that, India collapsed from 130/2 to 165/6. Tilak Varma (24* off 11 balls, with a four and two sixes) played a quickfire cameo to take India to 190/7 in 20 overs.
Sam Curran (3/33) was England's best bowler.
In the chase, England lost both their openers, Phil Salt and Jos Buttler, for ducks, their first such occurrence in T20Is. However, England made a solid recovery courtesy of a quickfire knock from skipper Harry Brook (39 off 15 balls, with four fours and three sixes), who put on a fifty-run stand with Jacob Bethell.
Bethell put on a 67-run stand for the fourth wicket with Tom Banton (39 off 32 balls, with six fours) before the wickets of Banton and Will Jacks reduced England to 133/5 in 15.2 overs.
Bethell (76* off 46 balls, with five fours and five sixes) changed the course of the game by upping the ante in the slog overs, helping England complete the chase in 19 overs alongside Jofra Archer (10*). England took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, with three matches left for India to make an impact. The first T20I ended in a washout.
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India Cricket Team
England Cricket Team
Axar Patel