Axar: The understated ace giving India the advantage

Used as a batting floater, Axar’s development as a bowler makes him an asset in T20s

- Somshuvra Laha

Axar Patel has been around for more than a decade but you wouldn't be able to pin down the correct designation for him in white-ball cricket.

The moniker of batting allrounder carries more heft and leverage, especially when India plays in Asia or on slower pitches of England or the Caribbean.

Check out his bowling averages in white ball cricket though and it might prompt you to go the other way around. More than awicket per game and economy rates of 4.49 in ODIs and 7.21 in T20Is, backed up by a career IPL economy of 7.35 say Patel isn’t your typical bits and pieces all rounder—he is the specialist India seek according to the scenarios.

If not for Ravindra Jadeja, Patel probably would have made a mark earlier, a point he had driven home with a stupendous haul of 27 wickets when Jadeja was ruled out of the England Test tour in 2021.

When the pitches are conducive to spin bowling, Patel can be lethal. But when they are flat, he generally relies on his height and variations of speed to deny the batters space and time to cut or pull.

In this Asia Cup, however, Patel has slowed down considerably, aiming to flight the ball more than he usually does. Result? Fifteen dots, 18 runs and the key wickets of Fakhar Zaman and Salman Agha that broke Pakistan’s spine.