India’s limited overs spinner, Axar Patel, has joined Durham county club and will play last six games of the season for them. The news was confirmed by the club itself –
Welcome to the Club, @akshar2026!
The Indian all-rounder will join us for the final six @CountyChamp matches of 2018
➡️ https://t.co/WN78lBYAse pic.twitter.com/OaaxxjXpOz
— Durham Cricket (@DurhamCricket) April 9, 2018
It means Axar will join the club in the last week of August, as club’s sixth last fixture is scheduled to start on August 19 against Glamorgan.
Axar’s next five games will come against Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Sussex, Leicestershire and Middlesex.
During the same period, India will be playing a Test series against England in England.
Axar is not in contention to get selected in the Test squad for the tour, but he has been called into the Indian team thrice, in place of Ravindra Jadeja in the past.
Should any player get injured during the tournament, Axar can always replace that one in the squad as well. He joins the list of players who will play county club in England in the coming season.
Likes of Cheteshwar Pujara (Yorkshire) and Ishant Sharma (Sussex) will kick off the proceedings on April 13 playing for their respective clubs. Varun Aaron will also be making his county debut same day, playing for Leicestershire. India captain, Virat Kohli, is also expected to join a county club soon.
He is expected to miss the historic Test against Afghanistan to play county cricket.
As per the reports, he might join Surrey or Essex county club. An official announcement regarding the matter is yet to made. Many other Indian players are expected to follow suit and play for different counties to prepare for the England tour.
Meanwhile, the upcoming county season is all set to kick off on April 13. ECB had already confirmed the availability of James Vince and Liam Livingstone right from day 1 of county cricket.
Likes of Joe Root, Alastair Cook, Stuart Broad will join their respective teams but after missing starting fixtures. England players who are a part of IPL will miss the first month of the county season.
It also includes Liam Plunkett, who was called in by Delhi Daredevils as a replacement for injured Kagiso Rabada.