IND vs AUS T20I | Learnt from past mistakes, don’t let boundary size dictate shot selection: Axar

Indian all-rounder Axar Patel says he has learnt from his “past mistake” of letting the size of boundaries dictate his shot-selection, something that was evident from the manner in which he targetted the more distant sides during the fourth T20I against Australia in Carrara.

Axar’s 11-ball 21, laced with a four and a six in the last over off Marcus Stoinis, was crucial to India breaching the 160-mark and posting 167, which Australia fell short by 48 runs. The visitors now have an unassailable 2-1 lead in the five-match series after the first game was washed out.

“Obviously I knew it was tough because wickets were falling back to back. The message that I got from the dressing room was to take it to the last over because there weren’t any batsmen after me,” Axar said in a video interview with teammate and fellow all-rounder Shivam Dube, posted by the ‘bcci.tv’.

“So I thought I would take a chance in the last over. The side boundaries were big but I thought if I could hold my shape and watch the ball, I could clear them,” he said.

“I have felt in the past that if I think about the size of the boundary and don’t hit towards those sides, they become predetermined shots and because of that we make mistakes. I learnt from past mistakes and played my shots here,” he added.

The fifth and final T20I will be played on Saturday in Brisbane.

Besides the significant runs, the 31-year-old Axar also picked up a couple of wickets in the game to deservedly win the player of the match honours.

Dube asked him about his wickets, especially the LBW dismissal of Matthew Short, which was the result of an accurate review taken by Axar in consultation with Jitesh Sharma.

Axar said he is not particularly a fan of reviews but took his chance this time.

“I’m never ready to take a review. But when the ball hit [his pads] this time, I think it stayed low. And the kind of action that I have, I bowl a little wide off the crease. So I always feel that the ball will hit outside the wicket or go from an angle,” he explained.

“But in this I knew that the ball was hitting and [although] it could have been a little outside the off stump, we could take a chance on umpire’s call and when I spoke to Jitu, he said ‘Axar it’s inside, I mean in the middle’.

“So I said ‘yes we can take a chance’,” he recollected.

Speaking about his overall bowling strategy in the game, Axar said he was looking to be economical as the wicket wasn’t assisting spinners.

“As a spinner, I felt like, it was important for me to contain. I was looking at that and bowling wicket to wicket because I was not getting much spin but I was getting a little bit of bounce because of the dew. The ball was skidding a lot,” he said.