Axar Patel, the late call-up ready to torment England on home ground | Tanya Aldred

In all the noise about India’s most crushing defeat of England on home soil, of Ravichandran Ashwin’s miracles with bat and ball, of England’s rotation coverage, of Moeen Ali, of the state of the wicket, of Virat Kohli’s on-field expressiveness, of Rishabh Pant and Ben Foakes, one man’s debut somewhat slipped beneath the carpet. Left-arm spinner Axar Patel, lean and lanky, with an air of Ravi Shastri about the moustache, marked his Test debut with 5 wickets in the second innings and the prize of dismissing Joe Root twice.

Patel was drafted into the squad for the first Test as a alternative for Ravindra Jadeja, who will miss the whole Test sequence after dislocating his left thumb in the third Test against Australia. Patel then missed the first Test due to a knee harm however used his time on the sidelines to do his homework. “I noticed Joe Root plays a lot of sweep and reverse sweep shots,” he stated, “and I thought 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.”

And so in the second Test it got here to move, with Kohli turning to Patel with England wobbling at 19 for 2 in the first innings. In his second over he spun one which dug into the pitch, slowed, and turned out of the mud. Root swept and top-edged to Ashwin at quick fine-leg. Patel accomplished his Root double virtually instantly after lunch on the ultimate day when he persuaded the ball to carry out a double-axel, rear off the pitch and catch Root’s gloved hand earlier than travelling to slip. As shut to unplayable as unplayable comes.

Patel was solely 19 when he was picked by Mumbai Indians for the 2013 IPL, though he spent the season on the bench. He moved to Kings XI Punjab earlier than becoming a member of Delhi Capitals as their second most costly participant earlier than the 2019 season. He additionally performs first-class cricket for Gujarat the place he received the Ranji Trophy, India’s home first-class competitors, in 2017 beneath the management of Parthiv Patel. He has praised RP Singh, India’s now retired left-arm fast bowler, who performed for Gujarat in that Ranji Trophy-winning staff, for serving to him perceive the mentality of batsmen. He has additionally performed numerous white-ball cricket for India, with helpful late-order runs to add to his left-arm spin.

The subsequent Test, which begins on 24 Feburary, is at Ahmedabad – the largest metropolis in Gujarat – and Patel’s home ground. The enormous new stadium, which seats 110,000 followers in a non-Covid 12 months, has state of the artwork drainage to absorb any damp in report time – music to Patel’s ears, if not Joe Root’s.

Patel has additionally hung out in England. He performed 4 first-class video games for Durham in 2018, to bolster a squad that had misplaced half their gamers after being relegated. He made his debut at a moist Cardiff in August and smashed 95 off 99 balls in a low-scoring recreation, earlier than making the mistake of permitting Durham No 11 Chris Rushworth on strike, who was promptly bowled. Martin Emmerson, the BBC native radio reporter, remembers asking Patel why he hadn’t tried to hog the strike. “The gentleman at the other end told me he could bat,” he replied, with excessive politeness.

Emmerson remembers a younger man who got here “as a spin bowler who could bat a bit but looked a class apart batting.” Patel additionally took what stays his greatest first-class figures, of seven for 54, in opposition to Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

The one thriller surrounds the identify in the scorebook: Axar. His actual identify is Akshar – that means letter. When he was in India’s Under-19 staff he had to get a passport earlier than the World Cup. His father went on an errand to his faculty to gather proof of his identify however the principal spelt his identify improper on the certificates. So his passport, after which his driving licence have the improper spelling. The man himself is relaxed about it, simply licking his lips for an additional likelihood in opposition to England, this time at his home ground.