Axar Patel played a match to remember against England in the World Cup Semi-Finals in the Caribbean At the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Thursday, Team Indian defeated holders England by 68 runs to secure their spot in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 final match. Player of the Match went to Axar Patel, who with his three-fer early in the powerplay started the English collapse.
With fifty runs from Rohit Sharma and forty-seven from Suryakumar Yadav, India totaled 171 before their bowling unit bowled England out for 103. The captain of India, Rohit Sharma, had informed Axar Patel, when he got the ball in the fourth over in England’s chase of 172, that the pitch was keeping low and skidding, and that hitting the big strokes was difficult.
After posting a total that included “10–15 extra” runs on a pitch that was hard to bat, India were already feeling confident. Axar reasoned that since the bats would attack him early on, it would be best to avoid doing anything “extraordinary” and force the batsmen to try and do different things, which might work to his advantage.
Axar Patel Said The Wicket Was Keeping Low
Axar Patel on how the wicket turned out against England.
“I have bowled in the powerplay in the past, so I had to bowl in the powerplay, that was the plan,” he began. “The wicket was stopping and keeping low, so I tried to bowl in the right areas. The wicket was slow, so I tried to bowl slower in this match, and it worked for me,” he explained.
“It wouldn’t have worked had I bowled quicker, it would have been easier for their batters,” the spinner added.
He continued by saying that the hitters’ contributions were helpful and that the team’s spirits were high following a close victory.
“Our batters told us that the wicket wasn’t easy, so 160 was a good total according to us,” he revealed.
Crucial Batting Partnership
Axar Patel praised the batters’ efforts after Rohit and Suryakumar set up a vital 73-run partnership for the third wicket to stabilize the Indian innings.
“That partnership between Rohit and SKY was magnificent, they scored the occasional boundaries and rotated the strike,” the southpaw said.
He said in closing that he would like to treasure the trophy and enjoy the victory today before turning his attention to the Saturday final versus South Africa.
“Not thinking about Barbados at the moment, will celebrate this player of the match award first,” he signed off.
Also Read : https://goworldwide.co.in/world-cup-2024-david-warner-will-be-missed/