The Day 3 of the Kanpur Test turned out to be a productive prospect for India as spinners were on a roll. Nine of the 11 wickets on Day 3 were taken by the spinning trio of Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja. On the other hand, substitute wicketkeeper Srikar Bharat also made his presence felt and was involved in three dismissals. The trio of Ashwin, Axar and debutant Bharat were involved in a funny conversation in a video posted by Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) on their official Twitter handle .
In the video involving the three, it was the Tamil Nadu spinner who went rampant with a series of questions. Ashwin funnily introduced both Axar and Bharat, stating that fans would take time to get used to Bharat’s twitter handle name which read @KonaBharat.
Ashwin who picked up three wickets on the day missed out on a leg before the wicket of Kiwi opener Tom Latham. India decided not to take a review Latham on the advice of the wicketkeeper Bharat. Ashwin quickly made his regrets felt asking Bharat, “Tell me about the review that denied me a wicket?” The keeper though replied with an apology, stating “I am sorry.”
While praising the glove work of Bharat, the veteran off-spinner turned the attention to Axar whom he asked rapidfire questions, “How do you bowl the wonderful low ball, which is called as ‘Surra’?” and “How do you control your spin as my ball beats the batter while your ball produces an edge, how do you manage to do that?”
The Gujarat bowler in a funny reply answered, “I produce little spin on the ball which is capable of producing an edge while your (Ashwin) delivery produces more spin and therefore beats the batter.”
After dismissing New Zealand on 296, India have made a slow start to the second innings on Day 4. The spinners will have their work cut out in the remainder of Test as the trio might once again have to produce the goods to take India home.
