Indian left-arm spinner Axar Patel revealed his reaction over the Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar’s comments about him. When analyzing the Test squad of this year’s Sri Lanka tour, the Indian legend criticized and referred as “a roller of the ball” to Patel.
After that, Patel not only got chances in the national squad in the limited over, but he gave decent performances with his bowling in those matches.
Patel told PTI, “I was taken aback to be honest. I guess anyone would be, if it comes from somebody of the stature of Gavaskar sir. He is a legend of the game. But then I thought everyone in the game including Sachin Tendulkar had to face criticism at some point. So I took it in my stride. I am sure sir (Gavaskar) will be happy if I can him prove him wrong. Fortunately, I have been a part of the ODI setup since then (July) and performing decently.”
Patel thanked his parents and friends for supporting in his tough time. He said, “It is not going to help if you take criticism to heart. My parents, friends supported me a lot when all this happened. My parents said you ought to have something special that you are playing for India.”
He added, “What I have learnt after all this is that one should not think negative for long irrespective of whatever is said about you. Amid this phase, I also got to know who my true friends were.”
Axar Patel is also selected in the ODIs squad for upcoming Australia tour which will start from 12th January. But currently, Patel is more focusing in the ongoing domestic cricket. He said, “Australia is still some time away. Right now the focus is to do well for Gujarat in the Vijay Hazare knock-outs. I have been experimenting with flighting the oddball, but I realise my strength is to bowl back of a length and trouble the batsman with bounce.”