Axar Patel had missed the World Cup bus despite being selected in the squad. A left quadriceps strain forced him out of last year’s ODI World Cup at home. But the left-arm spinner all-rounder is not one to harp on his misfortune.
Instead, Axar focused on quick recovery and wasted no time in playing competitive cricket and now he is back in the Indian fold. He has looked much sharper since his return to top-level cricket.
Since the home T20Is against Australia — India’s first bilateral assignment post-World Cup — till the ongoing series versus Afghanistan, the numbers do reflect Axar’s contribution in the team’s success. Ten wickets from seven T20I appearances so far
and at an economy rate of 5.85 — it highlights the discipline with which the 29-year-old has operated.
For sure the Australians were a depleted unit, resting most of their regulars after the ODI World Cup triumph, while the Afghans are yet to become a formidable force in spite of their ability to stun stronger teams. But what cannot be ignored is his consistency in these two series, and that too despite coming across placid, immensely batsmen-friendly tracks on most occasions.
Barring the opening game against Australia in Visakhapatnam back on November 23, Axar has been among wickets in all the six T20Is he has been a part of thereafter. If he hasn’t taken wickets, he has ensured to keep rival batsmen quiet on these unresponsive pitches.
Of course, how Axar performs in the coming IPL will be key to his selection for the T20 World Cup this June. But if the current situation is to be looked at, he’s definitely on a firm footing. More so, as the selectors too are quite impressed with Axar’s work ethic and the overall improvement in his bowling.
“Coming back from rehab, a player does take some time to get into his groove. So, he needs to be given that bit of time to settle down. But in Axar’s case, he has been on the ball right from the outset, something that has gone down really well with the selectors, who never doubted his quality,” a BCCI source told The Telegraph on Monday.
“As far as his bowling in these matches are concerned, he has varied his pace quite well, adding more rotation to the ball. Bowling the stump-to-stump line, he’s also making use of the crease and concentrating on that off-stump channel, which leads to confusion in the mind of the batter as to whether the ball will come in or go straight,” the Board source added.
Besides, following his fast recovery from the quadriceps strain, Axar took to domestic cricket for some valuable game time instead of returning straightaway to the international circuit.
“For his state team Gujarat, he featured in two Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy matches and then in one Vijay Hazare Trophy game, taking just 10-15 days to recover at the National Cricket Academy (NCA in Bangalore),” a NCA insider said.
“In fact, we had made him go through a couple of match-simulations, and he cleared those tests quite well. Game time was what he wanted then, and he headed straight to domestic cricket which was a good decision.”
Powerplay bowling
The fielding restrictions in the first six overs in T20Is tend to make the going pretty difficult for a spinner. But that hasn’t been able to put much pressure on Axar.
A more confident bowler now, he hasn’t given much away in the Powerplay. “I was trying to bowl for a few years, but there wasn’t that confidence earlier. I developed
what I needed to do with my action, and the confidence has carried forward, helping me bowl in the Powerplay too,” Axar said after the second T20I against Afghanistan in Indore on Sunday.
“You need to be prepared to be hit. It’s about the mindset though as you need to change your plans. Now I continuously bowl in the same areas and challenge the batsman to take chances.”
