Axar Patel, the Test cricketer
The left-arm spin all-rounder has much to offer if used judiciously.
Axar Patel has a first-class economy rate of 2.50 after 39 matches. In his 27 ODIs against top 8 nations, Axar has given away runs at only 4.51 runs per over. On his Test debut at Chepauk, he delivered spells of 2/40 and 5/60 from 41 overs.
In Chepauk, given the nature of the track, Axar was always going to be the hardest spinner to line-up. So the rate at which he conceded runs there is perhaps not so telling. And at the first-class level, Axar wouldn’t have always come across batsmen who would score off his good balls and not let his bad ones go unpunished.
But a closer study of his limited-overs numbers is quite revealing.
As many as eight series have encompassed Axar’s 27 ODIs versus traditional top 8 nations. In none of those series has Axar’s economy rate been higher than India’s overall economy rate. In fact, collectively, he’s been miser by nearly a run per over than the Indian attack around him. Axar’s overall ODI career economy rate is 4.43 from 38 matches (including games versus Bangladesh, Zimbabwe as well). Below are the screenshots from ESPNcricinfo’s ‘statsguru’, with the first of those showing India’s overall RPO (bowling) in series and matches Axar has played versus top 8 sides and the second reflecting his own economy rate in those series.
Going at nearly a run per over less than the attack around him is a commendable effort from Axar in this era. The ODI middle-overs finger-spin bowling is tough. You only have 4 fielders outside the 30-yard circle, with flat pitches and a white Kookaburra ball that doesn’t grip much on the track to also contend with. Axar doesn’t have the natural advantage with which a wrist-spinner can threaten both edges of the bat. And so, to maintain this kind of leash on run-scoring, he has had to be really smart and really accurate with his bowling, using the width of the crease and mixing the one that comes in to the right-hander with those that spin just away, varying his release-points, speeds and trajectory.
Yes, it’s true that batting teams tend to play a waiting game in the middle-overs of an ODI. But ever since they’ve had the pressure of countering an extra fielder outside the 30-yard circle in overs 41st to 50th, they’ve realised they can’t let the game slip while they build towards the final flourish with wickets in hand. And so, even while batting in the middle phase, there’s been greater urgency on show, which makes Axar’s miserly record all the more special.
It isn’t that Axar has completely conquered the ODI challenge; he’s not been a wicket-taker and hasn’t been used like that by India either. He has been a role player, bowling in tandem with a wrist-spinner and enhancing his teammates' chance of taking a wicket at the other end. That’s how India used him to bounceback and win that 2017 home ODI series versus New Zealand. The visitors countered the ‘Kulcha' successfully to a victory in Mumbai but suffered losses in Pune and Kanpur where Axar combined beautifully with Chahal. In Kanpur, even the dew couldn’t stop Axar from making an impact. Defending his team’s 337/6 in the series decider, he delivered seven overs for just 40. India eventually won by 6 runs.
Axar and Chahal in tandem could’ve been a long-term thing. But ‘Kulcha' was always India’s first-choice ploy and the move to play Axar an interim one. Kuldeep and Chahal had dominated the Aussies in the series before and went on to do so against the South Africans away, pushing Axar to the sidelines. Some time later, when India felt they can’t always pick their two wrist-spinners together and might need their No.8 to offer more with the bat at the 2019 World Cup, it was Jadeja who leapfrogged Axar to be back in the reckoning. It’s been like that since. That Kanpur one-dayer remains Axar’s last 50-over outing for India.
But this isn’t an exercise in reinforcing the value Axar brought to India’s ODI set-up. It is to explore whether he can maintain ‘control' on truer wickets than Chepauk at the Test match level and thus dispel doubts over his future in the whites.
T20 cricket, where teams have 10 wickets to maximise only 20 overs, perhaps poses an even tougher examination for Axar than ODIs. But even there, he’s been an ever-improving bowler. His 11 T20 internationals for India have seen him go at just 6.79 runs per over, delivering more than 21 balls (approx) per fixture. But for quality purposes, it’s his IPL record that we’ll focus on. Axar’s overall IPL economy rate stands at 7.29 after 2,019 balls in the league’s history. In the last two editions, that crucial number has only been better: 6.41 (2020) and 7.13 (2019); in Axar’s first IPL season back in 2014, it was 6.13.
Delhi Capitals used Axar even in the powerplay in UAE last year. He’s earned that level of dependency over time. Axar’s tall stature, higher release points and an open-chested action allow him to sight the batsman’s feet early. When a ball delivered from above the eyeline comes down quickly and is pitched at ‘hard lengths’, it’s always difficult for a batsman to adjust to and get underneath it to be able to get the big shots going. Plus Axar’s big hands and slightly slingy action force batsmen to watch the ball half a second extra, as he can create greater deception about his straighter ones from ‘around-the-wicket’ angle, while the one that turns upon pitching goes away from right-handers. This, also further reduces the time a batsman has to play his shot against him. Big hands help Axar rotate the seam around an axis of his choice, allowing him to mix the arm-ball and the side-spinner quite nicely.
If Axar can do it on flat pitches in one-day cricket against top-level batsmen, who are constantly on the lookout for boundary options, he can surely do it at the Test level too where batsmen have to treat each ball with greater respect and prolong their stay in quest to try and score runs. The key will be to retain that control over a longer period of time, which will also require greater fitness standards and mental toughness. But Axar seems up for it. With time, he’ll only improve and add to his bag of tricks to be more of a wicket-taking threat as well.
Yes, his first-class average isn’t the best. But Axar is an Indian first-class spinner of his times, where the growing pace-friendliness of Ranji Trophy tracks doesn’t always allow you the chance to be in games as a spinner, especially in the first half. And so, maybe, Test cricket, where he gets to bowl alongside someone like Ashwin, is Axar’s better schooling ground.
The possibilities are multiple in terms of how Axar can be used in this Indian Test set-up. He has only gotten his opportunity because Jadeja isn’t available. But even when Jadeja comes back, India can use him at home as a third spinner who can also add valuable runs at No.9. Axar will always be in play in home conditions, given the general nature of the tracks. If he can flourish in his role, Axar will take a significant load off the shoulders of Jadeja and Ashwin, who aren’t growing any younger and need their workload to be managed carefully.
Opportunities abroad won’t come easy, of course. But if there’s a Test where both Ashwin and Jadeja aren’t available and India need their spinner to tighten up an end for their seamers, Axar could prove an impactful addition to the XI. This isn’t a personal suggestion that Axar has pipped Kuldeep Yadav in the pecking order after outbowling him at Chepauk. That is for the team to decide. But multiple spinners means greater depth in the set-up and thus extra options in how they can all be employed at home and abroad. And, we now know, if the onus is on a particular left-arm spinner from Gujarat, he’ll certainly be up for it. Go well, Bapu!!
