And it’s all done! India came out on top against England in the first ODI, courtesy of several key performances, from Harshit Rana to Shubman Gill, and most importantly, Axar Patel. His batting and bowling changed the whole dynamic of the game, pulling it away from England and pushing it completely in India’s favour. The Men in Blue won the game by four wickets. Although it looked like Rohit Sharma and Co. would defeat England quite easily, we saw a mini-collapse when Shubman Gill and Axar Patel got out. But in the end, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja completed the chase of 248 runs. As mentioned, Axar Patel’s 52 runs and his impressive bowling, where he also took one wicket and cleaned up England captain Jos Buttler, played a crucial role in India’s victory.
Axar Patel on his clinical performance vs England
Speaking to broadcasters post-match, he reflected on many things.
“I knew from before [about batting at No. 5] to keep left-right combo going. Fast bowlers’ balls were coming on to the bat, so we switched to spin. But even spinners were being hit, so credit to them for starting well. [On the three spinners] We knew if we can stick to our lines and lengths, we could make a comeback given they attack the bowlers. Our plan was to make them err as they go for their shots. When we were bowling, the ball was stopping a bit. Their spinners varied the pace well, if our spinners had done the same, we would have got more turn. [On partnership with Gill] Talk was about play as it comes and not think much. As we played on, we targeted the bowlers and spoke about taking it long because it was not easy for a new batter.”
