Cricket News

Former India cricketer issues sensational statement on Axar Patel after his all-round performance against Sri Lanka

India could not get their act together in the second T20I at Pune. It was a listless bowling performance, especially by the pacers. The Men in Blue ended up conceding 207 runs with the bat. Then the Indian top order struggled in the chase at the start but brilliant contributions from Axar Patel and Suryakymar Yadav were not enough as India lost by 16 runs.

The biggest bright spot for India to emerge out of the second T20I was Axar Patel. He starred with both bat and ball as he picked up 2-24 in four overs with the ball. Then with the bat, he smashed 65 off 31 balls with three fours and six sixes. Axar has filled in beautifully for Ravindra Jadeja who is recovering from a knee injury.

Axar Patel can also bowl in the powerplay: Wasim Jaffer

“India are not missing Jadeja, who has been a phenomenal player in all three formats. But since India have found Axar Patel, we are not talking too much about Jadeja since he’s been away. Goes on to show how good Axar has come about as a cricketer. Fantastic. At the moment, yes (Axar is India’s No.1 spin all-rounder). India are lucky they have got such a like-for-like replacement (for Jadeja) in Axar Patel. He’s making the most of it in all formats. He can bowl in the powerplay, which I feel Jadeja does not like. Axar can do it. And If he bats like this, it’s debatable,” Wasim Jaffer said on Espn Cricinfo.

“In the last game also, he’s contributed immensely with the bat. Today (Thursday), he again showed how much he has improved. Massive improvements in Axar as a batter. He’s got a pretty good technique. We don’t see him slogging too many balls. He’s pretty sure that when he connects, he’s going to go out of the park. He targets the spinners, stands still and hits it pretty straight as well,” He added.

Dasun Shanka crafted an unbeaten 56 off 22 balls with two fours and one six which was the fastest fifty hit by a Sri Lankan in T20s and catapulted the islanders from 138-6 to 206-6. Then the Sri Lankan bowlers reduced India to 57-5 and then India tried hard but lost the game. The decider will be played on January 7 at Rajkot.