I wanted my first wicket to be Joe Root’s dismissal: Axar Patel

At the start of the second Test match between India and England at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, Axar Patel became the 302nd player to represent Team India in Tests. Patel was likely to make his debut in the first Test match, but an injury didn’t clear him to play.

The debutant had good first innings where he was instrumental in putting the tourists on their back foot. Axar Patel registered a figure of 2/40 in his first game which included the wickets of Joe Root and Moeen Ali.

During a chat with Cheteshwar Pujara on BCCI.tv, Axar Patel spoke about his desire of wanting to get the wicket of Root and how he achieved it. 

“When I was watching the first Test I noticed that Joe Root plays a lot of sweeps and reverse sweep shots, and I thought that with the speed that I bowl at, I had the opportunity to get him out, and I wanted my first wicket to be his dismissal,” Axar Patel told on BCCI.tv

On his first Test wicket

“I thought that if he tries to sweep my delivery, he may get out LBW. When he went for the sweep shot and made the mistake, to get an in-form batsman who has recently hit multiple centuries and double centuries. You can see it in the video how happy I was to get the wicket,” he concluded.