While India will be without Ravindra Jadeja for the T20 World Cup, the performances of Axar Patel in his absence, especially with the ball, have been encouraging for the team.
The series against Australia turned out to be a great one for the Indian cricket team. The Rohit Sharma-led side went down in the first T20I, but made a strong comeback in the next two matches to pocket the three-match contest 2-1. Left-arm spinner Axar Patel was the star of the show as he was adjudged Man of the Series for taking eight wickets on three matches. He not only had the highest number of wickets in the series but was most economical (6.30 RPO) too.
Axar, who came into the side as a replacement of Ravindra Jadeja, has been a worthy replacement, according to former India captain Ajay Jadeja.
“He has got his opportunity back. He is not complaining. He has grabbed it with both hands. That’s what happens in Indian cricket. Yes, we all will miss Ravindra Jadeja, but nobody is missing him from that point of view. The role that he was playing. Specially with bowling, I think he has in fact added to it. And he bats pretty well, so he matches there. It’s only fielding where he doesn’t match,” Jadeja told Cricbuzz.
“But when you are playing in a team that’s winning, teams don’t look back to anyone who was there then. From Axar’s point of view, he’ll be wanting to just carry this on, win the World Cup and come back. Then, we will all be wondering how does Ravindra make it to the side again.”
India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
