‘Not thinking about these rivalry, I treat it as a one match’: Axar Patel after India-Pakistan T20 WC fixture

COLOMBO: India’s star allrounder Axar Patel says he treats Pakistan just like any other opponent, focusing solely on cricket and not on any rivalry narrative after his side hammered the Men in Green by 61 runs in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup fixture in Colombo on Sunday.

A knockout punch in the form of a half-century by Ishan Kishan and a collectively brilliant bowling performance helped India secure a 61-run win against Pakistan in the ICC T20 World Cup at Colombo on Sunday. With the emphatic win over their arch-rivals in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup clash, India now leads 8-1.

“See, we are seeing them as a team. So we are not thinking about these rivalry or whatever. So we are playing against one team, and we are just focusing on cricket. So whenever I am playing, I am not thinking about what about others. I treat it as a one match and opponent. So I’m not thinking about any rivalry or whatever”, Axar Patel said after the match.

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Vice-captain Axar Patel with the much needed breakthrough!

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India opted to replace speedster Arshdeep Singh with spinner Kuldeep Yadav for the Pakistan fixture. Patel explained that playing three spinners was a pitch-based decision, not a random experiment.

“Yes, about the three spinners — sir, we feel that selection should be according to the pitch. And also, in such a big tournament, for a particular match, we should not make too many changes. And when you get help from the pitch, you will go for it. If your bowler gets your job done, then at such a time the batsmen are very important. So, this was the planning, and we made the team combination according to that”, Patel said.

Patel also said the team follows Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav’s message to focus on their own strengths, ignoring outside chatter about India’s batting vs Pakistan’s bowling.

“Yeah obviously we are — whatever captain says we are focusing on our strength and it’s outside talk. There’s India’s batting versus Pakistan’s bowling, or whatever. We are not thinking about that. We are just thinking about our plan and our execution. When we are batting or bowling, we are just thinking about if we are bowling first or we are bowling second, what we have to do? How wicket was? So we are thinking about our game, we are not thinking about our batting and their bowling and also it’s usually we are taking one match at a time. So today was the Pakistan team, so we are focusing on them, and that’s just made our plan, and just we discussed that only”, Patel concluded.

Coming to the match, Pakistan elected to field first after winning the toss, and after Abhishek was out for a duck, Ishan’s ruthless 77 and Tilak’s calm 25 kept India stable, but the Men in Blue sank to 126/4, losing their set batters and all-rounder Hardik Pandya (0).

However, skipper Suryakumar, Shivam Dube, and Rinku Singh finished the innings well, pacing their knocks perfectly in tough conditions. India scored 175/7, with Saim Ayub (3/25) being the top bowler for Pakistan.

In the run-chase, Pakistan sunk to 34/4 courtesy early strikes from Hardik, Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel. Usman Khan (44 in 34 balls, with six fours and a six) was the only one who showed up for the fight, as Team India packed Pakistan for just 114 runs in 18 overs, progressing to the Super 8 stage with their third successive win.

Axar (2/29 in four overs) was the pick of the bowlers for India, with Hardik (2/16 in three overs), Bumrah (2/17 in two overs) and Varun Chakaravarthy (2/17 in three overs) also being amongst the wickets.

India remains on top with three wins in three matches in Group A, while Pakistan has dropped to third with two wins and a loss, and the USA currently occupies second place with two wins and two losses. (ANI)