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 made a remarkable recovery through Joe Root and Liam Dawson. England looked headed for a modest total after collapsing from 61 for no loss to 107 for six. However, Root and Dawson put together a fighting partnership of 121 runs for the seventh wicket to frustrate the Indian attack and revive the innings. Root scored with a composite of 76 off 76 deliveries, while Dawson recorded a career-high 68 from 83 balls. The duo absorbs the pressure created by Jasprit Bumrah before targeting the other bowlers as the pitch became easier for batting. 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 past the 275 mark. Earlier, India’s pace attack had dominated the first half of the innings. Bumrah, returning after a six-week work-management break, produced a superb spell despite ending with just one wicket. The pace spearhead conceded just 31 runs in nine overs, including 36 dot balls, while constantly troubling England’s top order with movement and bounce. Young left-arm spinner Gurnoor Brar impressed by removing Jacob Bethell and Ben Duckett in the same after an expensive start, while Prasidh Krishna chipped in with the key wickets of joss butler and Sam Curran as England slipped to 107 for six. Root and Dawson rebuilt the innings before Axar’s late strikes ended the recovery. In doing so, the all-rounder not only recorded the best ODI bowling figures of his career but also met a rare Indian bowling motif that had been untouched for over a decade.