Axar Patel acknowledges that it is “a bit tricky” to cool his heels after a couple of games, but he is determined to put his best foot forward in his effort to make the most of every opportunity that presents itself to him.
Axar Patel acknowledges that it is “a bit tricky” to cool his heels after a couple of games, but he is determined to put his best foot forward in his effort to make the most of every opportunity that presents itself to him. Although he has taken more than 50 wickets in one-day internationals since 2014, the left-arm spinner and useful lower-middle-order hitter is still not a regular for India despite the fact that he is a like-for-like substitute for Ravindra Jadeja.
At the post-match press conference following India’s 13-run victory over Zimbabwe in the third One-Day International (ODI), Axar commented that “it is a bit tough when you play two matches and suddenly you’ve got to sit out.”
“And after that, you have another two or three matches to play. Although it is challenging, I have faith in myself and have trained my mind to believe that this is an opportunity for me to accomplish well, “he continued.
The management of the Indian cricket team, which has a wealth of cricketing skill at its disposal, continues to rotate its players in order to both improve its depth of talent for the foreseeable future and reduce the workload of its best players.
Axar believes that maintaining a positive attitude and approaching each game as an opportunity is beneficial in a circumstance such as this one.
“If I perform well today, I’ll be allowed to participate in the game after this one. I have the option of playing with the idea that I will be dropped after getting a handful of opportunities, but I choose to view this as a positive experience since it gives me the chance to play for India. If I am successful, I will work on bettering myself. Therefore, how you react to it is entirely up to you.” On Monday, India won their match against the hosts Zimbabwe by a score of 3-0.
In the third one-day international, the left-arm spinner took two wickets while only allowing 30 runs to be scored off of his 10 overs. One of those overs was a maiden over, which is quite uncommon.
“This previously used surface struck me as being a tad on the dry side and offering something for the spinners. I bowled from the opposite end and attempted to bowl the stump lines with my delivery. I was only holding out hope that the batter would make a mistake, and to my good fortune, I received a maiden.
Shubman Gill reached his first one-day international century with a score of 130 off 97 balls.
“The way he’s batting, the way he’s converting singles and doubles, and the way he’s not playing a lot of dot balls, that to me is the biggest plus,” Axar said. “The way he’s not playing a lot of dot balls.”
“When he is at the plate, there is a steady flow of singles and twos, and he has the ability to hit poor balls out of the park for boundaries. He is an excellent player of spinners, rotates the strike, and even plays the sweep and the reverse sweep with skill.” Axar was of the opinion that the Indian bowlers carried out their strategies throughout the three-game series.
“The bowlers were acting in accordance with their strategy. It was encouraging to see how Avesh (Khan) was bowling the yorkers in addition to the slower balls. The way that Shardul (Thakur) was alternating between throwing wide yorkers and slower ones.
