T20 World Cup 2024:
Axar Patel discusses his approach to starting and finishing his first and final balls of the period during the elimination rounds. Axar’s all-round effort helped India overcome England by 68 runs in the tournament’s semi-finals.
During the knockout stage of a major competition, Axar Patel spoke openly about his thinking. The Indian spinner said that he bowled with the intention of opening and finishing the first and last overs really well. Axar was able to put his concept into action as he took Jonny Bairstow’s wicket on the opening ball of his over.
He went on to collect three wickets and was named Player of the Match for his overall performance. India defeated England by 68 runs to reach the final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. The men in blue ended a decade-long wait by reaching the T20 World Cup final.
The ball turned quickly and stayed low, and the Indian spinners took full advantage of the circumstances. Axar was assigned his first over during the powerplay, and the left-arm pacer deceived England captain Jos Buttler on the reverse sweep with his first delivery, giving India their most important breakthrough. The England squad surrendered to spin, and Axar found a competent companion in Kuldeep Yadav, who also took three key wickets.
Axar Patel spins magic vs. England.
Axar provided a glimpse into his mentality while bowling in a high-profile match like this.
“I don’t believe I planned to get wickets on the opening ball. I had the idea that I needed to put it in a nice location. Obviously, while playing knockouts, you want to start and end strong with the first and last balls. That was on my mind. Obviously, every time I performed well with the wicket, it was a positive. I believe it was tough to smash huge strokes, as well as sweep and reverse sweeps; since the ball was down on this wicket, you couldn’t connect it as easily,” Axar stated in the post-match news conference.
Axar Patel displays his thinking.
Axar Patel also discussed Buttler’s crucial wicket, which came against him while playing a reverse sweep.
“Because batsmen doubt that if I go for a sweep and the ball is down, I can hit it on the pad.” It all depends on the line length you enter. Mostly, our spinners kept it stump by stump. So it was quite difficult to hit sweep rewards on this wicket.”
“And to get the front, you have to smash it as much as possible, but as we saw in the films, his batters are a little on the backfoot, so he didn’t get it as easy.
He needs to take out his leg, and you have to take a step forward and play on this wicket, or any wicket,” Axar continued.
India will meet South Africa in the final of the T20 World Cup 2024 on Sunday, June 29.
