IN the last couple of years, not only has all-rounder Axar Patel has emerged as one of top players across formats for India, but slowly has started showing excellent leadership skills. Earlier in 2025, he was named the T20I vice-captain, and the DC captaincy came his way too. That just shows he is certainly one of the top players in the country.
Rishabh Pant in Grade A, Why Not Axar Patel?
But somehow, when on Monday, the BCCI announced the central contracts list for 2024-25, his name was only in the Grade B, along with the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shreyas Iyer. From the last year, the only change in the Grade B was, Rishabh Pant was promoted to A.
But on what grounds one wonders. It’s not like any of these players are regularly being included in the Indian team in all the three formats — notwithstanding the reason. Surya is a regular in only the T20Is and is the captain there. Then Kuldeep is usually out of the Test team. Yashasvi is yet to start his ODI career, while Rishabh Pant only regularly plays the Tests. He was even ignored for the Champions Trophy, and last played an ODI in August 2024.
Excellent Numbers for All-rounder
Similarly in T20Is, he played his last match in July 2024. On the other hand, Axar had been a vital member, at least in the white-ball formats. In 2025, he played 8 ODIs, where he scored 215 runs at an average of over 35. These matches also brought eight wickets for him, at a modest economy rate of 4.47.
Then in T20Is, although he didn’t have much to do with the bat, he certainly was good with the ball. In five matches he got six wickets, where his economy was 7.07 only. Lastly, let’s also look at his Test record — a format he played last in Feb 2024. In 14 Tests he has scored 646 runs at an average of over 35, and has also picked up 55 wickets.
So, was there really a need for him to be kept out of Grade A?
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