India's 3 best bowling performances in pink-ball Tests ft. Axar Patel
India are gearing up to play in just their fifth pink-ball Test and second against Australia when the two teams meet in Adelaide on December 6. The visitors have already gone one up in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and will be keen on scalping a win in this encounter as well.
While India's recent memory of playing in a pink-ball Test in Australia is not that good (they were restricted to 36-9 last time around in Adelaide in 2021), they have tasted victory in all the three other matches they have played with this ball, against Bangladesh, England and Sri Lanka.
The pink ball is, quite naturally, in the bone of contention when a match is played with it, and as is seen, does quite a bit after pitching in the surface. The lights also assist the movement of the ball, and bowlers are usually seen rejoicing while playing in such conditions.
In this listicle, we take a look at India's top three bowling performances in pink-ball Tests:
#3 Jasprit Bumrah vs Sri Lanka, 2022
Jasprit Bumrah comes third on this list thanks to the 5-24 and 3-23 he picked up against Sri Lanka in the pink-ball Test played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in March 2022. India batted first in this game and put up a decent total of 252 runs on the board.
Sri Lanka, however, were bowled out for a measly 109, with Bumrah running through their top order. India batted again and set the Lankans a target of 447 runs to chase. However, the visitors struggled yet again in the second innings, and were bowled out for 208, with Bumrah claiming three wickets this time around.
#2 Ishant Sharma vs Bangladesh, 2019
India's legendary seamer Ishant Sharma, who came into the limelight with his stellar showing against Australia's Ricky Ponting in the 2007-08 Commonwealth Bank Series Down Under, comes second on this list. His claim to fame is the nine wickets he took against Bangladesh in Kolkata in November 2019.
Bangladesh batted first in this game and were bowled out for just 106, with Sharma running riot and returning with figures of 5-22. Virat Kohli scored a 194-ball 136 to help India gain a massive lead over their opponents who were again bowled out for 195, with Sharma's 4-56 handing his team an innings win.
#1 Axar Patel vs England, 2021
India spinner Axar Patel comes first on this list owing to the 11 wickets he picked up against England in the pink-ball Test played at his home ground of Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, in February 2021.
England batted first on a red-soil wicket and were all out for a low score of 112 in just 48.4 overs, with Patel doing most of the damage for India with returns of 6-38. Only opener Zak Crawley offered some resistance with 53 runs.
India scraped through to get a measly lead of just 33 runs and then bowled the Englishmen out for a mere 81, with Patel again doing the damage with 5-32. Needing 49 runs to win, the hosts chased it down with 10 wickets in hand.