Axar Patel awarded ‘Impact Player of the Match’ medal following win over Pakistan in Asia Cup

DUBAI: Following the victory against Pakistan during the ongoing Asia Cup, the Indian all-rounder Axar Patel was given the ‘Impact Player of the Match’ award in the dressing room for his fine bowling and fielding performances.

Axar was one of the standout performers in the clash against Pakistan, taking 2/18 in his four overs, getting an aggressive Fakhar Zaman and skipper Salman Agha in quick succession as spin was introduced in the attack, reducing Pakistan to 49/4 in 10 overs.

He also took a fine catch to dismiss a dangerous Hassan Nawaz for a single-digit score, making him the sixth victim of the day. Pakistan was restricted to 127/9 and India chased it down easily with 25 balls and seven wickets left.

In a video by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the team’s training assistant Nuwan Senevirathne gave Axar the medal, calling him “silent and effective in all three departments”.

Speaking in the video after the match, Axar hailed ‘Player of the Match’ Kuldeep Yadav for his match-winning spell of 3/18 in four overs.

“Donno match mein Kuldeep, Kuldeep bhai hi dikh rahe hai (It was Kuldeep, Kuldeep in these two matches),” he joked to Kuldeep, referring to his early ‘Player of the Match’ winning four-wicket haul against UAE.

Kuldeep also expressed happiness with his performance, saying that two months of work on his fitness, training and bowling during the five-Test tour to England paid off finally.

“I ticked those numbers (during the England tour while training and practising). I hoped that I got play in Asia Cup because conditions were suitable for me. But it is also important to stay in the rhythm and execute things well,” he added.

Kuldeep also thanked his Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper for helping him out with the bowling, pointing out how Axar adviced him to give more revs and spin on the ball.

“There are small things, while I was bowling, you told me to give the revs on the ball, the ball is gripping and spinning. I got this in mind. I had delivered just one over and decided to give the ball some spin and get some bounce. Because of that, I got three wickets, you got two, a total of five. Credit goes to you, you bowled really well. Perhaps you had bowled before and knew the conditions well. You had great control and got two wickets of set batters in the middle-order,” he added.

On his own bowling performance, Axar noted that this time, he was trying to bowl more slower and put in more revs on the ball.

“In the last match, I observed that it was easy for batters to hit me on the speed I was bowling on. So I decided to bowl more slower and give more revs to the ball,” said the experienced all-rounder, who took 1/13 in three overs against UAE in the campaign opener.

Axar also hailed skipper Suryakumar Yadav for his “mature knock”.

“As a batter, I know it is difficult to hit and rotate the strike. You just cannot hit big shots from the word go. You had to take calculated risks. This is what he did. There was no wild hitting. He waited for the ball, played late. It was a mature innings,” he concluded.

Coming to the match, Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first and were reduced to 6/2. A 39-run stand between Sahibzada Farhan (40 in 44 balls, with a four and three sixes) and Fakhar Zaman (17 in 15 balls, with three fours) stabilised the innings a bit, but India reduced Pakistan to 97/8. A late blitz from Shaheen Shah Afridi (33* in 16 balls, with four sixes) took them to 127/9 in 20 overs.

Kuldeep Yadav (3/18) was the pick of the bowlers for India, with Axar Patel (2/18) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/28) getting two wickets. Hardik got one wicket.

During the run-chase, India lost two wickets within the powerplay, with Abhishek Sharma’s fine cameo of 31 (in 13 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) giving India a solid headstart. Later, a 56-run stand between Suryakumar (47* in 37 balls, with five fours and a six) and Tilak Varma (31 in 31 balls, with two fours) brought back some stability. It was Suryakumar who did the majority of the striking later, sticking around with Shivam Dube (10*) till the end and taking India to a win with seven wickets and 25 balls left.

Kuldeep Yadav won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his spell. Now, India is at the top of Group A with two wins in two matches. (ANI)