Axar Patel – India
Following a trend of bowling fast, straight and wicket to wicket, first imbibed into the modern Indian cricketing galleries by Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel has, in the span of two years, carved out a niche for himself and has delivered with consistent performances. Not a massive turner of the ball, Patel’s strengths lie in his accuracy, using which – much to his captain MS Dhoni’s pleasure – he bogs the batsmen down at the crease and deters them from using their feet by bowling quicker and flatter through the air. 31 wickets from 25 ODIs and 7 wickets from 7 T20Is have put him in the contention lines for India’s limited-overs expeditions, and in time, especially for games played within the realms of the subcontinent, he could prove out to be an extremely vital customer.
A new facet that we have been witnesses to, with regards to the 22-year-old cricketer, has been his substantial improvement with the bat, of late, a few examples of which have been his innings of 20* (11) and 18 (9) in the T20Is against Zimbabwe, coming in to bat at No. 7 and No. 8. Patel’s abilities to clear the ropes with his straight-batted heaves made him a popular six-hitter in the IPL this season, and he has carried that form into the international games as well. While his ODI batting average of 10 is anything but praiseworthy, the List A average of 25.78 from 69 games having scored 954 runs, in addition to his bowling average of 27.61 shows that there is a lot of potential in store to be exploited.
