Axar Patel credits IPL for his batting highs

Axar Patel credited Delhi Capitals and Indian Premier League for his batting highs in recent times. Patel, who has been in excellent form since the IPL 2022. He has been performing the role which was performed by Ravi Jadeja in the team.

Known as a bowling all-rounder, he has greatly worked on his batting skills to make it to the Indian squad for the T20 World cup.

In a video uploaded on bcci.tv, the 28-year old credited his IPL 2022 stint for Delhi Capitals under head coach Ricky Ponting, for the improvement in his batting. He said that Ponting had zeroed in on him as the team’s finisher, after which he worked harder on his batting in the nets.

“I would say that I am being given more responsibility with the bat. For Delhi Capitals (DC), I was batting at No. 6 in the finisher’s role. In fact, Ricky (Ponting) told me that I would be the finisher in the team,” Patel revealed.

He said that after given that responsibility, he began to work harder on his batting.

“After being given that responsibility, I started working harder in the nets to prepare for the role. I started thinking what I needed to do to succeed in the position. Once you are able to finish a couple of games, your confidence goes up. I think that confidence is what is improving my batting,” he added further.

Notably, Patel smashed 64 runs from 35 deliveries in the 2nd ODI in West Indies in July. That knock helped India to cross the line. Also, during IPL 2022, he smashed a half-century to help out Delhi Capitals to win against Mumbai Indians. He ended with 182 runs in IPL 2022 at a strike rate of 151.67.

India squad for T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.