Axar Patel has gone from being considered a spinner who can bat and a backup to Ravindra Jadeja to a senior all-rounder himself, particularly in T20Is where he has been sent as high up as No.3 in recent games. The 31-year-old has said that legendary former India captain MS Dhoni, under whom Axar had started his international career, had a role to play in getting him to change his attitude towards batting.
“I started as a batter but became a full-time spinner when I reached the NCA. In my early days I didn’t do well with the bat and started doubting myself,” Axar told the Times of India. “When I got dropped in 2018, I worked very hard on my batting. When MS Dhoni was mentor of the 2021 T20 World Cup team, he told me that in my earlier days, under his captaincy, I put pressure on myself by thinking I had to perform all the time, rather than simply believing that I was a capable batter. Slowly I started implementing what Mahi bhai had told me and I regained my confidence”
Axar’s reliability as a batter was on full display in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup. India were in dire straits batting first, having lost three wickets inside the first five overs for 34 runs. Axar then struck up a 72-run partnership off 54 balls with Virat Kohli which steadied the Indian ship. He was expensive with the ball but took one wicket as well, all of which contributed to India’s remarkable victory in the final. “After the T20 WC final, I never thought I would be dropped again,” said Axar.
India’s current approach of having a flexible batting order has resulted in Axar playing in a variety of positions. However, he has been trusted to play in and around the top order more often than not in recent games and Axar says that in those moments, the team management trusts him to provide stability. “If I’ve been sent up the order, that means the team trusts me and I have the talent to perform this role. When I go out to bat, I don’t think I am a floater. The team management tells me that I’m not sent to blindly accelerate the scoring or play out a difficult spell or target a particular spinner. I am given a role like any other specialist batter,” he said.
