Axar Patel flexes his batting muscles with a counter-attacking 86

Axar Patel is no stranger to collapses. In the last two years, he has been the saving grace for India's senior side with the bat across formats. The latest rescue came against South Africa in the T20 World Cup final, where he scored 47 off 31. 

He was also superb for India in Nagpur and Delhi against Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy, where he showed the value of batting with a straight bat and scored precious 84 and 74 runs, respectively, on consistently turning tracks. 

He showed a similar level of skills against India C in the ongoing Duleep Trophy game, where he not only scored a splendid half-century but also rescued his team from being dismissed on a double-digit score. 

India D were 34/5 in 10.5 overs in the first session at a spicy track in Anantapur when Axar came in to bat. The India C pacers Anshul Kamboj, Vijaykumar Vyshak and Himanshu Chauhan were bowling incisive lines, and the pitch was helping them quite a bit with extra bounce and occasional exaggerated seam movement. 

Axar rode out the early storm and then counterattacked by targeting the spinners Hrithik Shokeen and Manav Suthar, hitting six sixes down the ground - the most he has hit in a first-class innings. However, he only applied the higher gear once India D were eight wickets down with only medium pacers Arshdeep Singh and Aditya Thakare left to bat. 

Axar Patel on 🔥

Smashes 6⃣4⃣6⃣ off Manav Suthar as he brings up his 50!#DuleepTrophy | @IDFCFIRSTBankhttps://t.co/u0KTJISm6b pic.twitter.com/g8lVbi52Vp

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) September 5, 2024

He brought his fifty in the 39th over after hitting Suthar for a six, a four and then a six in the same over, bringing up his half-century in just 77 deliveries after being extra circumspect at the start of his innings. He increased the pace of his run-scoring even more after that, scoring four more sixes in the next five overs. 

Axar and Arshdeep had an 84-run partnership for the ninth wicket, which allowed India D to post 164 after losing half their side for only 34 runs. Axar was the last wicket to fall for India D, getting out after scoring counter-attacking 86 runs.

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