Obviously, you are bound to be disappointed; the World Cup was in India, but that injury happened: Axar Patel

Axar Patel, an Indian spinner, has acknowledged that he was disappointed to be forced to miss the ODI World Cup at home due to an injury and It took him around a week to move past his disappointment and concentrate on his recovery.

Axar Patel, an Indian spinner, has acknowledged that he was disappointed to be forced to miss the ODI World Cup at home due to an injury. It took him around a week to move past his disappointment and concentrate on his recovery. 

Before the World Cup, the 29-year-old was a member of the Indian squad. However, an injury to his left quadriceps sustained during the Asia Cup forced him to withdraw, and Ravichandran Ashwin took his place in the group of 15 players.

“Obviously, you are bound to be (disappointed). The World Cup was in India, but that injury happened. For the first few days, I was thinking about it, not being able to play due to injury,”

Axar told reporters during the post-match press conference.

“But, the team was doing well, so after 5-10 days, I was back to training and was doing my rehab. But, yes, when you are out due to injury and those 5-10 days you are not able to do anything, you do feel a bit bad. After that, I returned to routine life.

“I was upset, but it happened due to an injury; it’s not in anyone’s hands. It’s part and parcel of the game.” 

Axar made a spectacular comeback to international cricket, taking five wickets in the series so far. On Friday night, he took three wickets to help India win by 20 runs in the fourth T20I.

“If you are away from international cricket for some time due to injury and then come back, you try to prove yourself and you also have to look after your body, so I also took one match (at a time),”

he said.

“When you come from injury you try to keep that part of the body safe. You are not able to give your full effort. It stays in the back of my mind.

“It doesn’t happen in that way because the trainer already tells you that nothing will happen but while sprinting, you feel what if something happens again to the quadriceps.

“But the first couple of matches, I was back to routine. Now I don’t feel anything like that and the work that I put in the last one-and-a-half months, I am reaping the reward now, so I am happy overall.”

India’s T20 World Cup preparation begins now

Axar is excited to play in the T20 World Cup, which is set to take place in the USA and the West Indies in June of next year, having missed the ODI World Cup. He also stated that preparations for the tournament have already started.

“Before the T20 World Cup, I don’t think India has a lot of T20 games scheduled, maybe 9-10 matches. So, we have to plan from now and prepare as there is the World Cup in June and then there is IPL in between, so the planning is going on,” he said.

“All the players have been told about their respective roles, in what position they will play and once Rahul (Dravid) sir is back, there will be a detailed discussion but we know what we have to do in this series, so there is no confusion.” 

Axar was left out of the T20I squad for the upcoming South Africa tour, with Ravindra Jadeja taking his place. Axar has taken 44 wickets in 49 T20Is.

Asked if he was fired up due to the snub, Axar said,

“It is not like that, if I would have gone for runs then you would have said that I was upset. I was normal.

“…there was nothing in my mind that I have to prove myself for that. I have been doing well and this is not my decision and I didn’t think much about that. I am just happy I got wickets today.” 

In the fourth T20I, Australia was reduced to 154 for 7 by Axar, who also removed World Cup hero Travis Head, Ben McDermott, and Aaron Hardie while chasing the hosts’ total of 174 for 9.

“I didn’t change my bowling much. There was dew in the last three matches, so we were bowling back of length but there was no dew today, so we could give the ball flight as the seam was not too wet,” he said.

“There was grass on the pitch, so some balls were skidding, so they were facing difficulties. I have also been varying my pace for the last three matches, sometimes going for a few slower ones in between.”

Partnership with Ravi Bishnoi

Young Ravi Bishnoi, who produced statistics of 4-0-17-1, teamed up with Axar to form a powerful left-right spin combo.

“Throughout the series, he has been bowling well. His speed has been troubling the Australians, especially his googly and he has been working on his leg spin.”

However, former India pacer and a well-known cricket expert Ashish Nehra supported Krishna and called him one of “India’s future stars”.

“You are talking about a guy who has not played much cricket. But there’s no shortage of talent when you talk of someone like Prasidh Krishna. He’s definitely one of India’s future stars, and let’s hope that from here he’s only going to get better. He’s someone who can bowl a good yorker. I know it’s difficult to bowl on wet ground and a flat pitch, but in these kinds of situations, you definitely back your yorker,”

Nehra said on JioCinema.

In the ongoing T20I series against Australia, Krishna has participated in the first three games. Given that he only had four wickets and let up 159 runs, he has shown to be quite expensive for India.

The fifth T20I match between India and Australia will take place on Sunday at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.