Leach eager to learn from Ashwin, Axar

London, March 2: By his own admission, England’s Jack Leach is in awe of the exploits of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel during the pink ball Test and he is eager to learn the nuances of spin bowling from the Indian duo in the fourth and final match, starting here on Thursday.

Ashwin and Axar used the spin-friendly Motera pitch to great effect and picked up 18 of the 20 English wickets in the match to demolish the visitors.

“When you see players having so much success, like Ravichandran Ashwin, who has just got to 400 Test wickets and has a lot of experience in India, and Axar Patel, who has had a great start to Test cricket, of course, you try to learn from them,” Leach wrote in a column for Sky Sports.

The 29-year-old left-arm spinner felt the experienced Ashwin was very clever in the way he changed his seam position.

“He (Ashwin) will bowl to the same spot but the way it gets there and whether it hits the seam or hits the lacquer varies and the ball reacts very differently. Then Axar is someone who seems to present every ball the same, a squarish seam, then a few skid on and the odd one grips — that has been so effective on the wickets we’ve played on.”

Leach is up for the challenge that awaits him in the final Test and sounded confident after picking up the wickets of top four Indian batsmen in the third Test.

“...We’re all keen to learn and are excited by the challenge; you have to be because if it was all easy then it wouldn’t be Test cricket and it wouldn’t be as much fun when you have those good moments,” he said.—

Ashwin and Axar used the spin-friendly Motera pitch to great effect and picked 18 of the 20 English wickets in the match to demolish the visitors.