Axar Patel has attributed his rapid growth as a batter over the last 12 months to a change in mindset besides crediting Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting.

Axar has been coming up with crucial performances across formats in the last three months. On Saturday, he scored a potentially game-changing 74 while batting alongside Ravichandran Ashwin (37) in the second Test against Australia. This follows his 84 in Nagpur.

The duo shared a 114-run stand for the eighth wicket to help India reach 262, just one run short of Australia’s first innings total.

“At Delhi Capitals, I spoke a lot with Ricky on how I can get better with my batting. Even in the Indian team, I was talking to the batters. I felt I was not realising my potential with 30s and 40s. I was not able to finish the game.

“So, it was a lot about the mindset. Sometimes you can relax as an all-rounder if you have taken wickets, you could get casual. So I thought I could improve on that and convert my 30s and 40s into match-winning scores. That is how I think now and that has made a big difference,” said Axar.

Axar and Ashwin also got high praise from Australian spinner Nathan Lyon.

“When I am bowling, we think how the batter is making things difficult for us. I use the same technique while batting. If the bowler is landing all the balls in the same area, the batters keep defending confidently. While batting, we also try to defend confidently and force him to change his tactics. Having a bowler’s mindset helps in batting as well,” said Lyon.

Written with inputs from PTI