India took the unexpected choice to replace Axar Patel with the returning Ravindra Jadeja in the starting XI for the third Test against England in Rajkot.
Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, and Jadeja were the spin-bowling combination that captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid elected to rely on.
This is an unexpected choice given how effectively Axar Patel has bowled and batted for India in this series, and how much more he would have loved turning his arms over on this rank-turner of a surface.
In this listicle, we provide three reasons why India’s decision to omit Axar Patel for the third Test against England was incorrect:
1. Axar Patel shines with the bat, becomes India’s third-highest run-scorer in the series
Axar Patel, before this Test, was the third-highest run-scorer for India in the series. Having scored 133 runs at an average of over 33 over four innings, Axar was only behind Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill in the rankings.
Axar Patel hit two scores of 40 in the pair of Tests he played, indicating potential strength for the team. His skillset suits the Rajkot pitch, and his abilities could enrich the lower-order side’s performance significantly.
As a southpaw at the bottom of India’s batting order, Axar Patel provided variation that English bowlers took for granted. As a result, he scored easily and caused mayhem in the visitors’ heads.
2. India’s fourth-highest wicket-taker in the series
Aside from his batting ability, Axar performed admirably in the role for which he is most known and selected: left-arm spin bowling.
The Gujarat spinner finished the series as India’s fourth-highest wicket-taker, with five scalps. He would have relished bowling on the turning surface at Rajkot’s Niranjan Shah Stadium, where he could extract plenty of spin and bounce.
Axar’s large size helps him to bowl from a position that compels hitters to play every ball. His height also helps him to extract turn and bounce from most surfaces, even vintage turners like the one found in Rajkot.
3. India’s missed opportunity: Playing four spinners against England
Similar to what England did to India in the first Test in Hyderabad, the latter might have used a four-spin bowling assault consisting of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel.
As previously stated, the surface at Rajkot is notorious to turn square during the second and third days of a Test match.
Having four spinners in one’s arsenal would have been extremely beneficial to India, not to mention the element of surprise that would have caught England’s batters off guard, forcing them to revert to their normal sweeping and reverse-sweeping tactics.
