In this interview, Axar talks about the T20 World Cup triumph, the celebrations that have followed, his batting, and his role going forward

Ashish Pant20-Jul-2024″So many people dream of such things and out of them, we 15 have lived the dream.”It’s been three weeks since Axar Patel played a key role – with bat and ball – in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 triumph, but the aftereffects of that memorable day in Barbados continue to ring loud among Indian fans.This outpouring of love and gratitude is something that Axar is still wrapping his head around. Open-bus parades, felicitations in the hometowns, celebrations that don’t seem like stopping any time soon. Has it sunk in yet for Axar that he is now a T20 world champion?Related

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“Not yet to be honest. And even if we want to, the others are not letting us do it. The kind of atmosphere there is, the people are not letting it sink in. The kind of welcome we are getting, the kind of reception we are getting, locally too, is great. It’s been really enjoyable these last few days,” Axar tells ESPNcricinfo in an interview facilitated by JSW Sports. “I am not much of a social guy. But when I came back, everyone was showing so much love. Even when I came to Gujarat, I think I reached home after 12am, and even then, people came in huge numbers to meet me. It was incredible.”That is when I thought how much craze there is for cricket in this country. It felt that along with us the entire country and the people have won this trophy. I feel fortunate and I am glad to witness these things.”Going back three weeks things could have been much different for India if not for Axar’s timely 31-ball 47 at a critical juncture. Batting first in the final, three of India’s top four were back in the shed inside the first five overs. That meant a promotion almost out of the blue for Axar. He had been asked to bat at No. 4 in an earlier group game against Pakistan, but to be promoted in the final, with his side in trouble, was a test of his mental aptitude.Axar says the key to that innings was to not second-guess himself and opt for a simple see-ball, hit-ball approach.”I came to know about the promotion barely four or five balls before I went out to bat,” Axar says. “It wasn’t that long. When Rishabh [Pant] got out, I was asked to get ready and I think in the next over itself Surya [Suryakumar Yadav] got out.Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya keep the party going•BCCI”I wasn’t nervous. Obviously, there is pressure on you, but at the time, I didn’t understand how to react. I don’t think when I went to bat there was anything going on in my mind. I had gone with a see-ball, hit-ball mindset. I was not thinking about anything, not worrying about the consequences, there were no second thoughts in my mind.”I consistently communicated with Virat [Kohli] , so I didn’t feel that I have come in early and that I have to do something different. I kept talking with Virat and we communicated clearly about what we have to do.”Axar’s role in the Indian side is of a spin-bowling allrounder who can be useful with the bat lower down the order. But his batting has been on an upswing, especially in the last year or so. In IPL 2024, he was often employed as a floater, at times coming in at No. 3 or 4 for Delhi Capitals, and that’s a role he has been asked to do in the Indian team as well of late.Not having a permanent batting position in a line-up can be off-putting for a player, but not for Axar who sees being a floater in a positive way.”Every batsman likes to have a fixed batting position because it becomes a bit easy for him to plan for his role. But as a floater, I feel that the captain and coach trust you which is why they are sending you in tough situations. I am taking that in a positive way,” he says. “When the team needs someone to stand up, they are banking on me to deliver. That means they have seen something in me. When the team trusts you to deliver in such crunch situations, you start trusting yourself even more automatically. And once you deliver in one or two matches, it gives your confidence a different sort of boost altogether.”It is not as if this has happened just once or twice. I have been asked to perform this role for Delhi Capitals and other teams as well. After a point, you get used to it and it doesn’t matter which position you are batting in. You are confident in batting in any position and you know what to do in that situation.”But how does Axar classify himself, as a batting allrounder or a bowling allrounder?”, allrounder (Whatever works for me on a given day, I become that variety of allrounder),” he says with a smile. “If my bowling clicks, I am a bowling allrounder; if the batting clicks, then batting allrounder. I started off as a batsman, so I think I like my batting more. In the last two or three years, the kind of batting I have been doing, I feel I am now capable. I was not doing justice to my batting in the earlier years.”Axar Patel gave the India innings some impetus in the T20 World Cup final•Getty ImagesIndia will next be travelling for a three-game T20I and ODI series to Sri Lanka and Axar is part of both squads. The T20I leg will mark Suryakumar’s first stint as full-time T20I captain after Rohit Sharma retired from the format, and also Gautam Gambhir’s first assignment as India head coach.Axar, who played five T20Is against Australia under Suryakumar’s leadership last year, described him as a “bowler’s captain” and one who likes to keep the “atmosphere lively and cool.””I have spent a lot of time with Suryakumar. Surya is a happy-go-lucky guy. He keeps the atmosphere lively, loves doing mimicry and such fun stuff. I know he will keep the atmosphere cool,” Axar says. “I recently played a five-game T20I series when he was the captain. I know he is a bowler’s captain. He gives the bowlers the fields they ask for. And it was like that with me, too. I don’t think there will be a lot of change. We will get to know now playing under his captaincy about his mindset. You can’t judge someone’s captaincy by one tour. When we play more, we will get to know more of his captaincy style.”With Gautam , yes, we will go to Sri Lanka, there will be meetings, we will exchange a few thoughts and after that I will get to know exactly what my role is and what he thinks. I will get more clarity on that only after that.”Axar made his India debut back in 2014, and in ten years, he has only played 14 Tests, 57 ODIs and 60 T20I games. But finally, after all these years, he seems to have found a permanent spot at least in the white-ball scheme of things. Ravindra Jadeja’s retirement from T20Is makes Axar the leading spin-bowling allrounder in the format, as he was selected ahead of Jadeja for the ODI series for Sri Lanka as well.Axar, however, isn’t looking too far ahead of himself and wants to focus on short-term goals.”I can only set my goals based on the kind of role I am expected to perform. It shouldn’t happen that I am asked to perform some role and my goals don’t align with it,” he says. “I don’t believe in long-term planning. I just look at the present, what’s in front of me and just the short-term goals is what I look at.”

The Rajasthan Royals legspinner achieved the landmark against Mumbai Indians on Monday

Sampath Bandarupalli22-Apr-20242:34

Moody: Yuzvendra Chahal is one of the IPL’s ‘greats’

200 Wickets for Yuzvendra Chahal in the IPL, the first bowler to reach the milestone. Dwayne Bravo is second on the list of leading wicket-takers in the IPL with 183 scalps.2 Players with 200-plus wickets in a T20 competition before Chahal in the IPL. Danny Briggs (219) and Samit Patel (208) have 200-plus wickets in England’s T20 Blast.158 Chahal’s wickets in the 125 IPL matches he played in India. Only Bhuvneshwar Kumar (160) has more wickets than him in IPL matches in India. Chahal has 42 wickets in the UAE, which is the joint highest along with Jasprit Bumrah.7 Hauls of four wickets or more for Chahal in the IPL, the second most most in the league along with Lasith Malinga. Sunil Narine leads the list with eight hauls of four or more wickets.20 Instances of Chahal taking three or more wickets in an IPL match. Only Jasprit Bumrah (22 times) has taken more three-plus wickets than Chahal in the IPL.4 Bowlers with 50-plus wickets for two franchises in the IPL, including Chahal. Piyush Chawla (KKR and Punjab), Axar Patel (Punjab and DC) and Rashid Khan (SRH and GT) are the other bowlers on the list.Chahal is the only player with 100-plus wickets for RCB in the IPL. He has 61 wickets for Rajasthan Royals and is their joint second highest wicket-taker in the IPL behind Siddharth Trivedi (65).52 Wickets for Chahal at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in 42 IPL matches. Only three other bowlers have bagged 50-plus wickets at a venue in the IPL.152 Wickets for Chahal in the middle overs (7th to 16th over) – the most for any bowler in this phase. Amit Mishra (139) is next on the list. Chahal’s strike rate (17.30) in the middle overs is only behind Kagiso Rabada (15.88) and Bumrah (17.28) among the 42 bowlers with 30-plus wickets in this phase.16.7 Chahal’s bowling strike rate in the IPL is the fifth best among 71 bowlers to have picked up 50-plus wickets.

England’s No. 3 rides his luck throughout but still takes 121 off West Indies

Vithushan Ehantharajah18-Jul-20240:43

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Is there such a thing as a ‘bad’ Test hundred? Ollie Pope’s sixth Test century fit snugly into this philosophical navel.His 167 balls at the crease were a neat microcosm of the first day of this second Test at Nottingham. Those 88.3 overs were as fast-food as Test cricket gets. Big chomps of low-grade, error-reared beef interspersed with the occasional mouthful of high-quality fries that will leave both teams feeling a little icky as they lie down on Thursday evening.West Indies will feel it worse. Kraigg Brathwaite’s decision to bowl first under clear blue skies and on a baize-like outfield allowed Ben Duckett to nail into the Trent Bridge pockets like peak Ronnie O’Sullivan, his breezy 71 more than covering for the loss of Zak Crawley three balls into the start. Four drops, a missed stumping and ragged ground fielding – despite the carpet surface – let England off the hook, allowing them to pass over any introspection into their own carelessness.Five batters made it to 30, but only three went beyond 60; among those only Pope reached three figures. Ben Stokes looked set to join his vice-captain to a milestone but instead gave Kavem Hodge a maiden Test wicket. Harry Brook fluffed a scoop to short leg, having already been given a life on 24. Joe Root’s awry hook undid a patient start. Is there such a thing as a “bad” 400-plus score? It might be this one, you know.Even Pope walked off unsatisfied with his 121. He was shelled on 46 before lunch, lashing one to Alick Athanaze at gully – and again on 54 soon after, a simple catch dropped by Jason Holder at second slip and almost redeemed by Hodge at first. Having got through that period, offering up a third chance when there were runs to plunder late in the day was an opportunity squandered.Related

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“A nice couple of drops, which always helps,” Pope ceded bashfully at stumps. It certainly does when you are emerging from a peculiar run of form emanating from the innings of a lifetime.Pope’s stunning 196 in the heist of Hyderabad prompted a dire run that spilled over into his domestic season for Surrey. In 18 first-class innings leading into this West Indies series from that first India Test, Pope averaged 19.05. His 57 at Lord’s last week was just his second half-century in the period, following a gritty 64 against Worcestershire at The Oval.Those struggles in the final four India Tests were not for a lack of effort. But it was the famine in the County Championship that had Pope scrabbling. Surrey might be top of Division One, but Pope’s average of 22.88 from seven games sticks out like a sore thumb considering he arrived into the season with a red-ball average of 70.31 for his county.He rejected any notion of doubts. But he admitted to a degree of pressure because of what he now represents, both to his peers, and to himself:
“You’re like ‘Why’s everyone else in the country scoring runs in county cricket but England’s No. 3 isn’t going out and averaging 50 this summer?'”Privately, he reflected that he should have taken more time off at the start of the season to fully shed the toil of three gruelling months overseas. But it was during a round off ahead of this series – when Surrey played Essex – that he set about some corrective work with England batting coach Marcus Trescothick.Were those improvements visible today? Sort of… ish?The drops scream at you, but there were plenty of sweet-sounding strikes in there, particularly the six off Shamar Joseph, picked up off the hip over deep square leg, among the scuff and strikes nailed at fielders. Pope’s restraint was evident by the fact this was comfortably the most leg-side of his centuries, split 47/74. The single that took him to 83 was his first run in front of square on the off side, followed by a crisp punch through the covers an over later.Pope brings up his sixth Test hundred•PA Images via Getty ImagesThough undoubtedly fortunate, this ranks third when you look at the false-shot percentage of his six hundreds: below Hyderabad (21%) and his double hundred against Ireland last summer (19%) on 15%.Maybe that says more about those two innings than this one. But while this England team moves towards refinement, the old ways – bringing up the team 50 from 4.2 overs; reaching 100 in 17.2; putting 281 on the board by the time Pope was the fifth man to fall at the start of the 58th over – kept them moving forward, unperturbed by the rakes that lay ahead.How else to explain their immediate recovery from 0 for 1 in the first over, and how Pope shed the drops when others would have dwelled on them? “It’s kind of like a play and miss,” he explained, delving into the mentality of parking what, to rest of us, appeared to be grievous mistakes.”Sometimes I slash at a wide one and miss, and think ‘lucky I didn’t nick that’. I use it as a lesson, think it’s not the option to take. With batting, you are never going to be completely perfect.”Cricket goes in [swings and] roundabouts. My luck wasn’t with me in my county stint, but every now and then, you get a bit of luck in international cricket and it’s just trying to make it count as much as you can.”1:12

Pope explains his attitude to being dropped after his 121

England were certainly not completely perfect on Thursday – not even a little bit. This was a day that loaded questions onto West Indies and did not provide England with any answers. But they did make it count.For Pope, the England batter under the most scrutiny heading into this summer, this was at the very least a score of note to bank for a player thriving at No. 3 – with an average of 44.45 – while still trying to figure the role out.If this century unlocks a more comfortable Pope, then it’s served its purpose. And so maybe there is no such thing as a bad Test century. It’s like what they say about pizza – even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.

Rain had a part to play in ruining the first two days of the Test but there was no easy excuse for how the third one turned out

Alagappan Muthu29-Sep-2024″”It kept piercing the silence, the sound from one solitary horn. Usually, it accompanies revelry at a cricket ground. Here it may as well have been an entreaty. A significant crowd had gathered at Green Park and they wanted to see something, anything, besides the covers that were practically nailed into the turf on Saturday.Aditya, a young boy, was among them, wearing the India ODI jersey. He had come from out of station to watch his first day of live cricket. Sadly that was too much to ask in Kanpur. His father, in an effort to try and make it up to him, got him a bowl of before they made their way back home.This was not the “Shine Green Park” experience that the stadium officials were hoping for.Perhaps it was best Aditya and his dad weren’t here on Sunday. They would have been put through an even more perplexing experience. The covers had all been peeled off. The stumps had been put in. Paint was applied to the bowling crease. And best of all there was no rain from at least 8am. It still wasn’t enough for play to take place. The teams didn’t even make it to the stadium.Related

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The weather forecast for this Test was poor. The monsoon which usually recedes by mid-September has been hanging back for a little too long. When the players went off for bad light on the first day, there was torrential downpour. A significant part of why there has been no play over the last 48 hours is because of the rain leading up to them. There has barely been any in the time the game was supposed to be happening. Maybe a drizzle here and there on Saturday. Absolutely none on Sunday. This casts the facilities at Green Park in poor light.Earlier this month, the Kanpur district magistrate visited the stadium to test its readiness for the India-Bangladesh Test. He had concerns about the drainage system and, according to local reports, left instructions “to fix it in two days”. There’s certainly been some improvement over the years. In September 2017, a Duleep Trophy game held here was put to bed after no play for three successive days.It might almost have been good if this debacle had happened in front of empty stands, but they’ve been relatively packed. The crowd has found ways to keep their spirits up, belting out slogans, bashing on their drums and creating the festive atmosphere that the venue director Sanjay Kapoor had made a heartfelt plea for. In return, he and the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association have given them a really raw deal. It’s tempting to wonder if they even tried.On Thursday, when asked about Green Park’s protection against the weather they were facing, Kapoor said, “All covers have been arranged for the pitch, there are two super soppers [they eventually had to borrow one more from Lucknow] and the drainage system is in place. Recently, we encountered the most torrential rainfall, but our stadium wasn’t impacted. (God has tested us, now we leave the rest to almighty).”On Sunday, hundreds of people saw the umpires make their inspections. They expected the groundstaff to spring into action after that. But that never happened. A pair of birds spent more time bouncing around on the outfield than anybody who had anything to do with getting it fit for purpose. It was not a good look and it raised a whole load of questions. Some relating to competence, others relating to resources.Umpires Chris Brown and Richard Kettleborough examine a few wet spots on the outfield•AFP/Getty Images”You see organisers do all sorts of things, use iron boxes, hair dryers to dry the ground,” a fan, who works nights and as a result isn’t sure if he can make it back to the match, said on his way out. “You can see them make the effort.”We spent INR 500 for tickets, sat through for six hours in this humidity, haven’t eaten anything since morning, haven’t slept. We couldn’t even step out of the stadium since we won’t be allowed a re-entry. So we had to stay put hoping that play would start at some point. Even if nothing was possible, if we could have seen Virat [Kohli]’s face or Rohit [Sharma]’s face, that would’ve been worth it.”There were multiple explanations for the Test sliding into limbo. Up in the press box, the UPCA representatives claimed the delay had nothing to do with the outfield, that it was actually because of bad light. A member of the groundstaff believes that the umpires felt more comfortable starting if the sun had been out. Clearly, they didn’t run this line out to the person manning the big screen because on it flashed the words “Day 3 play called off due to wet outfield.”Umpires Richard Kettleborough and Chris Brown certainly paid a great deal of attention to the mid-off region for a right-hand batter facing up from the media box end and seemed to point to it when they met with support-staff members from both teams. At no point were they seen with their light meters out. Why would they make so many trips onto the field and check the same parts of it – mid-off, gully, bowlers’ run-ups – if it was just the light that wasn’t right? Whatever the case, at 2pm, the worst-kept secret in Kanpur broke. There could be no cricket possible, in b(ro)ad (day)light and with no rain.The first two days going by the wayside had a lot to do with the weather. The third one seemed salvageable and the fact that it couldn’t be salvaged only adds to the dysfunction that has surrounded this game. There were protests against this Test by some right-wing political groups. It led to increased police presence, some deployed on the rooftops of houses at the start of each day. The stadium couldn’t support a full house because one of its stands had become structurally unsound. The organisers had to cap entry into it in order to make it safe. The cricket, while it was on, tried its best to be a distraction but it was no match for the constant off-field drama. And then it simply disappeared.

Since 2021, India’s batters have seen surprisingly poorer returns at home than in the previous five years. Here is a deep-dive into why that has happened

S Rajesh15-Sep-2024For several years now, defeating India in India is considered the toughest task in men’s Test cricket, a claim which is backed by numbers: since the start of 2013, India have a 40-4 win-loss record at home, easily the best; in second place is Australia’s 41-7.Over much of this period, India were extremely dominant with both bat and ball: from 2013 to 2020, when they had a stunning 28-1 win-loss home record, India averaged 44.05 runs per wicket with the bat, and 23.30 with the ball. Both were the best among all teams at home. In this period, the only year when the India batters averaged under 40 at home in a calendar year was in 2015, when they scored only 25.27 runs per wicket on dubious pitches in the four-Test series against South Africa. (These batting averages exclude runs scored from extras, while bowling averages include bowler wickets only.)ESPNcricinfo LtdSince 2021, though, that trend has changed a bit. In 17 home Tests in these four years, India’s batting average has dropped to 33.40 from the highs of 48 between 2016 and 2020 (actually 2019, since there was no Test cricket in India in 2020). In terms of rank, India have slipped from first to fifth. The bowlers held their end of the bargain though, averaging 21.29 runs per wicket, which is next only to South Africa’s 18.84 among all teams in their home conditions. India’s 12-3 win-loss record in this period points to a team which is still dominant, though not overwhelming so like they were earlier.The lower batting and bowling averages for India also point to another trend, of conditions getting tougher for batters in general in the country. How much more difficult is batting in India in these last four years, compared to an earlier similar period? Let the numbers provide the answer. We’ll look at the top-seven batters only, in the periods 2016-20, and since 2021.