Ahmedabad: Being a finger spinner, a left-arm spinner has become such a conditions-pertinent art in T20 cricket that stature notwithstanding, selection is no longer a guarantee. Indian vice captain Axar Patel being asked to warm the benches in India’s two World Cup matches in Ahmedabad – league match against Netherlands and Super 8 tie against South Africa – added to high-profile exclusions to data-based thinking.
Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir may be publicly dismissive of data use, but his tactics suggest otherwise. Again, whether data must weigh more heavily than instincts has never been an exact science.
For players on the receiving end, however, they are left with a point to prove. Axar had missed the 2023 World Cup due to injury and watching the India-Australia final played at the giant stadium in his hometown from the sidelines would have hurt. In this World Cup, being dropped for off-spinning all-rounder Washington Sundar so that they could better counter left-hand heavy batting line-ups must have felt like a gut punch.
As it turned out, the match-ups were underutilised, and Axar’s lower-order batting skills were sorely missed. One way to settle the selection debate is by bringing your all-round skills to the fore. In the England semi-final, Axar did everything in his power to make a case.
With the ball, the left-arm spinner was less expensive than India’s mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy. Axar also showed his bowling tenacity by accounting for Tom Banton’s wicket, beating him in flight when boundaries were flowing thick and fast.
And what about making winning contributions in the field? For an Indian team languishing at the bottom of the catching efficiency charts in the tournament, Axar led the way with two outstanding catching efforts on the field; one that won’t even be registered against his name, but surely, it’s about time, relay catches have two names.
Axar’s catch to end Harry Brook’s brief stay was the more spectacular in terms of difficulty: he ran backward, covered vast distance and held on. But the Axar-Shivam Dube relay catch of Will Jacks at deep cover was even more crucial for its sheer presence of mind and awareness of boundary ropes amid heightened tensions given the match situation.
“I felt the ball kept following me today,” he later told reporters, laughing.
He was philosophical too. “Maybe that was a reason why I was not playing (previous matches),” he said when asked about having earned the right to play the final at home. “Look, I have been waiting for this for many years…to play a match in front of your family on your home ground is a proud feeling. I think I would be playing after two years at home and that too in a T20 World Cup final. My son would be watching me live for the first time, that makes me very proud.”
Those who know Axar well say, one of his great strengths is his ability to confront pressure with a smile. “We are all excited for the final. Control your emotions. Relax and come to cheer for the team in Ahmedabad,” was his message to the home fans. “Badhu majja thi thai jase. Tension nai lyon (All will work out just fine. Don’t take any tension).”
As for those caught up in India’s recent big match defeats in Ahmedabad, Axar was ready with a wise crack. “Maybe because the home player was missing,” he said. “The jinx will be broken now.”
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