Delhi Capitals all-rounder Axar Patel revealed that he was caught off guard when he had to go out to bat after DC lost three wickets in quick succession in the eighth over against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Despite this setback, the Capitals secured a seven-run victory in match No.34 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Monday (April 24).
DC’s captain David Warner chose to bat first after winning the toss on his former home ground in the IPL. However, a brilliant spell from SRH off-spinner Washington Sundar caused a mini-collapse in the DC batting line-up.
Sundar claimed the wickets of Warner, Sarfaraz Khan, and Aman Hakim Khan, leaving the Capitals at 62 for 5 after eight overs. Axar Patel then joined Manish Pandey at the crease, and together they put on a determined 69-run partnership to rebuild their team’s innings.
Axar contributed a run-a-ball 34 to help the Capitals reach 144/9 after 20 overs. In the second innings, the left-arm spinner took the wickets of Mayank Agarwal and Aiden Markram in a spell of 2/21 from four overs, earning him the Player of the Match award.
At the post-match presentation ceremony, Axar Patel spoke to the official broadcaster and said:
“I wasn’t aware of what happened in the middle. I had ordered a coffee, and I left that glass of coffee like that only as I got to know that three wickets fell in an over.”
“Pandey told me that the more we can take this till deep, it will be good. Because if we had runs, then we could give them some fight (while defending).” He further added.
“Kuldeep and I bowled like this as a partnership in Delhi as well”: Axar
Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav put the brakes on the Sunrisers’ scoring in the middle overs after Mayank Agarwal (49) got the home side off to a positive start in the powerplay.
The Sunrisers scored only 53 runs from overs 7 to 15 and lost four wickets in the process, with Axar and Kuldeep taking three of those wickets. When asked about his effective spell alongside Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel said:
“It was a little slow, and the ball was stopping. Kuldeep and I bowled like this as a partnership in Delhi as well. I had fun with the way me and Kuldeep bowled.”