Axar Patel produced a brilliant spell at the death to enter an exclusive list in Indian ODI cricket during the opening match against England at Edgbaston on Tuesday. The left-arm spinner became only the second Indian spinner to claim four wickets between overs 41 and 50 of an ODI innings. The only other Indian spinner to achieve the feat was Ravindra Jadeja, who did so against Sri Lanka in Port of Spain in 2013. Axar’s late burst helped India bowl England out for 258 after the hosts had staged a remarkable recovery through Joe Root and Liam Dawson. England appeared headed for a modest total after collapsing from 61 without loss to 107 for six. However, Root and Dawson stitched together a fighting 121-run partnership for the seventh wicket to frustrate the Indian attack and revive the innings. Root top-scored with a composed 76 off 76 deliveries, while Dawson registered a career-best 68 from 83 balls. The duo absorbed the pressure created by Jasprit Bumrah before targeting the other bowlers as the pitch became easier for batting. Just when England looked set to finish strongly, Axar struck repeatedly in the closing stages. He dismissed the lower order to finish with career-best ODI figures of 4 for 62, ensuring England were restricted to 258 instead of pushing beyond the 275-mark. Earlier, India’s pace attack had dominated the opening half of the innings. Bumrah, returning after a six-week workload management break, produced a superb spell despite finishing with just one wicket. The pace spearhead conceded only 31 runs in nine overs, including 36 dot balls, while consistently troubling England’s top order with movement and bounce. Young left-arm seamer Gurnoor Brar impressed by removing Jacob Bethell and Ben Duckett in the same over after an expensive start, while Prasidh Krishna chipped in with the key wickets of Jos Buttler and Sam Curran as England slipped to 107 for six. Root and Dawson then rebuilt the innings before Axar’s late strikes brought the recovery to an end. In doing so, the all-rounder not only recorded the best ODI bowling figures of his career but also matched a rare Indian bowling milestone that had stood untouched for more than a decade.
