Following a useful cameo in India’s first innings, Axar Patel made an immediate impact with the ball. On Thursday, June 27, he removed England captain Jos Buttler with the first ball of his term in the T20 World Cup semifinal in Guyana.
Jos Buttler was beginning to look threatening, with three boundaries in the previous over delivered by Arshdeep Singh. He chose to confront Axar right away with a reverse sweep. However, the ball gripped and hit the toe end of his bat, bounced towards wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, who made an easy catch.
Here’s a video of the biggest wicket:
'????????????' ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????? ????????#AxarPatel strikes first ball and gets the big fish! ????????#SemiFinal2 ???? #INDvsENG | LIVE NOW | #T20WorldCupOnStar (only available in India) pic.twitter.com/vC86ZLcrkE
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 27, 2024
Axar Patel started his second over by snagging a wicket and swiftly cleaning up Jonny Bairstow who was completely caught off guard by the arm ball. Bairstows adventurous shot aiming for the covers resulted in the ball crashing into his off-stump.
Ravichandran Ashwin Right About Axar Patel Giving England Openers a Tough Time
In a video posted to his YouTube account, experienced Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin explained why Axar needs to be deployed early against England’s openers. He provided insight on Axar’s flat trajectory and suggested that the left-arm spinner could slow it down with a fine arm ball that gripped the surface.
This is what he said:
“A spinner like Axar bowling to Jos Buttler and Salt, he has got two toys. He can bowl a fantastic arm ball. He can slow the ball down. He can also slide it in with the arm. Which makes it three toys in his favour. Jos Buttler’s trajectory is low. When you look at it, it is a good thing for Axar Patel to bowl the first over.”
Ravichandran Ashwin
While Axar did not bowl the first over, he has caused enough damage to England’s batting for India to be on top of them at the time of writing.