Count on me: Is Axar ready to step out of Jadeja’s shadow in ODIs?

Such are the riches of India’s talent pool, that there are two contenders for every spot. For every Bhuvneshwar Kumar, there is Deepak Chahar. For every Ravindra Jadeja, there’s Axar Patel.

When Kumar struggled for bowling rhythm, Chahar raised his game with some impressive lower-order batting contributions to go with his swing bowling and stake claim. Then injury halted Chahar’s progress and Kumar repositioned himself as a powerplay match-winner with the ball. Jadeja—he’s nursing an injured knee—could now be feeling the pressure watching Patel take India to victory—64*(35b, 3x4, 5x6) in the 2nd ODI at Port of Spain.

Jadeja stands out for his 3D abilities but his white-ball bowling has been challenged over the past few years. The all-rounder makes up with his six-hitting prowess in T20s but Patel could be pushing him for a place in ODIs, showing better control with the ball.

Jadeja’s ODI Avg difference (Bat avg – Bowl avg) is a healthy -4.73 making him India’s premier spin bowling all-rounder. But with his bowling accuracy deserting him, those numbers have been going downhill of late (-19.58 in 2019, - 11.67 in 2020). This despite impressive showings with the bat. He’s played only 3 ODIs in the past two years.

As for Patel, he’s been Jadeja’s understudy across formats. Every time he gets a run, he makes his count. His 27 wickets in 3 Tests at home against England last year caught the eye.

His last ODI before this series was in 2017. While his bowling has been improving, curiously enough Patel’s clean striking at Trinidad may help him push his case of being equal with Jadeja.

In the early hours of Monday Patel anchored three lower-middle order stands to help India chase down 312. When Patel walked out at No 7, India needed 107 off 68 balls. Hooda was struggling with his timing but Patel cleared the ropes at will.

He had done it once in IPL 2022, batting with Lalit Yadav against Mumbai Indians by hitting 75 in the last five overs in a chase. “It’s my first ODI half-century. I want to keep delivering like this,” he said. “We needed 10-an-over for 11 overs which I thought was chaseable. We have been playing IPL. We just had to stay positive.”

Brief scores: WI 311/6 (Hope 115, Pooran 74, Thakur 3/54). India 312/8 (Axar 64*, Iyer 63, Samson 54, Joseph 2/46, Mayers 2/48).

India won by 2 wkts.