R Sridhar praised Axar Patel for his outstanding all-round performance in the fifth Twenty20 International between India and Australia.
On Sunday, Axar scored 31 off 21 deliveries as the Men in Blue set Australia a 161-run target in Bengaluru. The spin-bowling all-rounder then delivered a sparse performance of 1/14 in four overs to help the hosts defeat the visitors by six runs.
Sridhar was asked to choose the best performance while assessing the game on Sports 18.
“Axar Patel, without a doubt. With the bat as well, on the field, and with the ball. He was a league apart with respect to the other spinners on show and also the other all-rounders on show. He took confidence from the last game, not just with the ball but also with the bat.”
R Sridhar
Axar was complimented by the former India fielding coach for making significant contributions with both the bat and the ball.
“He played some intelligent shots. He played the field well. He picked the bouncers and dispatched them over the boundary. He gave India a total to fight with. He gave us something to defend on a tacky pitch and when he came back to bowl, he got a crucial wicket and put India on top.”
R Sridhar
Axar scored 46 runs for the sixth wicket with Shreyas Iyer (53) after India was reduced to 97/5. He then caught Tim David for a critical 47-run fourth-wicket stand with Ben McDermott, which threatened to take the game away from the Men in Blue.
“As he played more number of balls, he got better and better” – R Sridhar lauds Shreyas Iyer’s knock
When R Sridhar was questioned about his feelings over Shreyas Iyer’s knock, he responded as follows:
“I think he was a little scratchy to start with. But later on, as he played more number of balls, he got better and better. It was not an easy pitch to bat. It was a little tacky, a bit sticky I would say, the ball was stopping and coming.”
R Sridhar
Sridhar believes the knock will help the middle-order hitter in T20I cricket.
“There was a little bit of turn for the spinners as well but he hung in there almost till the end. He was done in by an excellent yorker from Nathan Ellis but otherwise, some of the shots he played, will give him a lot of confidence, especially in this format, where he has still not yet cemented his place in the team.”
R Sridhar
Shreyas hit five fours and two sixes in his 53-run performance. Aside from the 46-run stand with Axar Patel, he also contributed 42 runs for the fifth wicket with Jitesh Sharma (24 off 16) after India was reduced to 55/4 in the 10th over.