As India takes on England in the second Test at Vizag, it is imperative to look in detail, the performance of the star player from the previous series in 2021. Axar Patel, who is all se to appear in the playing XI on Friday, had bagged 36 wickets in that series, and was one the major reasons, why hosts won the five-match tie.
Axar Patel’s Overall Career
At first, if we look at all-rounder Axar Patel’s Test career numbers, all looks great. The southpaw has played 13 Tests so far, all in Asia where there are spin conducive tracks, and has picked up 53 wickets. That including five fifers, one 10-wicket haul, a strike-rate of 45.8, and an average of 18.
Axar the batsman isn’t far behind, as he has scored 574 runs with four fifties, with an impressive average of over 35. All these make for a great record, and purely on numbers basis, he should be a regular starter for India in Tests. But that’s not the entire picture, unfortunately.
Off late, the 30-year-old has not been among the wickets, that has largely gone unnoticed. That could be due to laying more focus on batting, or maybe, not getting in enough overs with R Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja doing bulk of the job.
Axar Patel’s Unimpressive Form With Ball
While his overall record suggests otherwise, Axar is going through a lean phase, as far as his wicket-taking ability is concerned. Majority of his wickets came in just one series against England in 2021 only. Since that series, he has played eight more Tests, and picked up only 17 wickets. Last year, in 2023, he played four Tests, and all he could manage was three wickets. His average shot up to 62, and strike-rate 172.
This year, he has played only one, against England at Hyderabad, and there he could only manage to pick three wickets. If we dig deep, in the last nine innings, he has picked one or more wickets once. In that time period, he returned with no wickets in four innings. His last four-wicket haul came against Bangladesh in 2022, and last fifer against the English in 2021.
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