Axar Patel made a comeback to the Indian team against Sri Lanka in the first ODI on Sunday. Axar, who last played an ODI in October 2016 versus New Zealand, was sidelined from the squad for 10 months. Axar was overshadowed by the brilliant performance of Amit Mishra in that series where he spun his web around the Kiwis.
But Axar Patel impressed everyone on his comeback with his match winning performance of 3-34 in his 10 overs. Axar, along with Shikhar Dhawan, turned the match around on its head to take India to an easy victory over the Lankans in the first ODI.
Axar came into bowl in the 22nd over of the innings and helped India restrict Sri Lanka to 216 all out. He picked up a wicket in the third over of his return. Later on in the day, after the match, in a fun interview with Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel said he wanted to bowl the way he bowled when he came into the Indian team. And he grabbed the opportunity with both hands and produced a man of the match-winning performance only to give it away to Shikhar Dhawan who played sublime innings of 132 off 90 deliveries. On his plans of bowling in the first ODI, Patel revealed that he wanted to keep it simple and contain the Lankan Batsmen as they had scored well in the first 20 overs.
Patel said:
“I wanted to contain the Sri Lankans because we had conceded a few in the first 10 overs and I was happy to get a wicket after two overs, Never thought of winning any man-of-the-match award but the way Dhawan batted, he deserved it. It’s not just about one guy performing all the time, all the players are doing well.”
Axar, who is very optimistic about India’s chances to win the 2019 world cup, said:
“We all enjoy each other’s company – there is unity and we are gelling well with each other. I think this team will surely win the World Cup in 2019.”