Axar Patel
Axar Patel. Image Credits: Twitter

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been the top wicket-takers in India vs Australia Test series. Axar Patel was mostly shy of bowling in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023, because of Indian spin twins. But Axar’s batting stood out as astounding and also he surpassed Rohit Sharma’s run tally in BGT 2023.

Axar Patel
Axar Patel. Image Credits: Twitter

Sunil Gavaskar’s key advice to the left-arm spinner –

“Agli baar century miss mat karyega. Kyunki 100 kay itne mauke aate nahi jaldi, toh jab aata hain toh chodiye mat. (Next time don’t miss out on the century. There are very few times when you reach close to a ton and when you do grab the opportunity),” said the former Indian skipper as he politely interrupted the host to share some priceless advice.

“Thank you sir,” the bowling all-rounder responded.

During Axar’s 79 runs at Ahmedabad Test, he also stitched 162 runs with Kohli for the sixth wicket. Following his dismissal the home side lost wickets in quick succession and with Shreyas Iyer not available to bat, the Indian innings was dismissed for 571, Patel’s wicket fell down when team India was on the 555 mark.

Axar scored 84 in the first innings of the Nagpur Test, the Indian side winning by an inning and 132 runs, whereas his 74 against the fall of wickets in the first innings of the Delhi Test, Asian giants went on to win the match by six wickets and retain the BGT for a fourth time in a row.

While the 29-year-old has picked only one wicket in the initial three matches of the series, ahead of the fourth test, former Indian head coach, Ravi Shastri was asked about the selection of Axar Patel ahead of Kuldeep Yadav, Shastri defended Axar’s selection by saying if he wouldn’t be there, India would not win the first two test matches of Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023.

While, on Day 5, till the news was written, the visitors lost their first wicket, after Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed the night watchman, Marnus Labuschagne joined Head on the crease, Australia is on 73/1 at Lunch.

At the same time, India needs to win the final test match at Ahmedabad for full assurance of qualification to the World Test Championship (WTC) Final, or Sri Lanka didn’t win the New Zealand series by 2-0, meanwhile, the ‘Baggy Greens’ has already reached the WTC Final in England, after avoiding the clean sweep in BGT 2023.

Also read: IND vs AUS: Usman Khawaja Remains Doubtful To Bat On Day 5 Of The Ahmedabad Test