The former all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes that more than their veteran left-arm spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, it has been Axar Patel, another player of the same category, who has given more exposure and benefit to the Indian team in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States of America (USA).
Ravindra Jadeja is yet to make any contribution in this competition, with the bat with the ball, or in the field, as he is yet to make any run, pick up any wickets, or take any catches on the ground. While on the other hand, Axar Patel has been doing these jobs constantly for the Indian team.
Jadeja didn’t get a single over with the ball in their last game against the USA side, and that brings the question of whether the team management could think of bringing Kuldeep Yadav to the Caribbean in their place.
‘This team management is backing Axar Patel more than Jadeja’- Sanjay Manjrekar
In their opening fixture of the Indian team, at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, against Ireland, the pitch was a bit tricky and mostly helped the fast bowlers.
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Rohit Sharma gave both the spinners one over each, in which Jadeja went for seven runs without any success, while on the flip side of the coin, Axar Patel gave away just three runs and picked up the wicket of Barry McCarthy with another excellent return catch.
Against Pakistan, he was excellent and played the role of an unsung hero. Getting promoted at number four with the fall of two wickets early in the innings, Patel showed his ability to soak the pressure, as he nailed an 18-ball 20-runs, which included a couple of boundaries and a six.
In that process, he also maintained a good 39-run stand for the third wicket in five overs, to bring them back into the contest, which was drifting away from them at the start.
He was quite crucial even with the ball in hand. Axar Patel gave away 11 runs and picked up the wicket of Usman Khan which opened the channel of how the batting order of the Pakistan team fell like a pack of cards.
Jadeja came into this tournament on the back of a poor Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 with the ball, where he picked up only eight wickets in 14 games at an economy of 7.85, while the other Gujrat-born cashed in with 11 wickets in 14 games at an economy of 7.66.
The former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels that India are looking at Axar because of his greater range in batting ability.
‘If you compare Jadeja to Patel, as far as the batting ability is concerned Axar Patel has more range. India needs to take that advantage, since he’s come in that liberty has been given to the Indian team that we have Axar Patel that okay we have Axar Patel in the batting department who can bat at number eight and he can even bat at number four if the team requires as well.’ Irfan Pathan discussed this on Star Sports. ‘So, the stability given by Axar Patel has been given to team India a lot more than Ravindra Jadeja.’
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The former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar also believes that the management is backing Axar more than Jadeja.
‘Jadeja interestingly, India haven’t actually bowled him a lot. Axar Patel has been their go-to spin all-rounder, even when they needed to promote somebody at number four against Pakistan they chose Axar Patel.’ S Manjrekar expressed on the same show. ‘It’s interesting how the handling of all-rounders shows that this team management are backing Axar Patel the bowling all-rounder more than Jadeja.’
India will face Afghanistan in their first Super Eight game on June 20, at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, in Barbados.
