With the fourth Test between India and Australia ending in a draw, the former registered their fourth straight Test series win over Australia. India have not lost a Test series against Australia since reclaiming the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2017.
In the just-concluded series, India thrashed Australia in the first two Tests to take an unassailable lead. In the third Test, Australia bounced back in style to inflict a heavy 9-wicket defeat on the hosts. In the first three Tests, very few players managed to do well with the bat as turning pitches and uneven bounce on them made conditions really tough for batting.
And with the series now done and dusted, veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik believes Axar Patel’s batting played a key role in India’s win. The spin-bowling allrounder had a poor outing with the ball in the series as he managed to pick up just 3 wickets in 7 innings.
He, however, made amends for it with his batting. In extremely tough batting conditions, Axar showed his class by scoring three fifties including two in the first two Tests. He played a knock of 84 runs in the first Test before 74 in Delhi. He scored a fifty in the last Test too.
Dinesh Karthik on Axar Patel’s batting:
Axar Patel has been facing criticism for his poor performance with the ball against Australia. However, Dinesh Karthik believes that the allrounder has played a crucial rule in deciding the outcome of the series. Speaking to Cricbuzz, the senior wicketkeeper said that Axar performed well with the bat.
“Without his batting, you wouldn’t be 2-1. I think his bowling was good, nothing great this series, but his batting was phenomenal. I think his batting overshadowed his bowling,” he said.
Axar finished the series as one of India’s highest run-scorers. The southpaw scored 264 runs from five innings at an average of 88.00. He was the only player to cross the 50-run mark on three occasions in the series.
“The only person to get three fifties straightaway. That is a phenomenal achievement, considering where he bats. He was not out in both the innings in the Indore Test.
“Forget the scores, and leave the results out, just the confidence he had in defence on turning tracks, as a batter when I looked at it, he was without a doubt the best Indian batter in this BGT series by a distance,” Dinesh Karthik said.
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