Axar Patel's Role Unclear: Decoding What Place Fits Best For India All-Rounder In Asia Cup 2025

Axar Patel Featuring For India - (Source : AFP)

The time is finally here when India end their month-long drought, and the players will return to the cricket field for the first time since the England series. 

The Men in Blue will kickstart their campaign on September 10 when the Suryakumar Yadav-led side lock horns against UAE. The team looks stable and hardly any spot is left for grabs, minus the opening slot, where there is a three-way battle between Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, and Shubman Gill. 

There is chatter around every player and their position in the team, but Axar Patel continues to be the least talked-about player. The 31-year-old continues to be a key member of the Indian team and has added responsibilities on his shoulders since Ravindra Jadeja's exit. 

While Patel will be India's third spinner in the Asia Cup, his batting order is still unclear. Axar will certainly bat in the middle-order, but which position suits him the best, and this article will find exactly which role suits Patel and which role the 31-year-old should don for the Asia Cup. 

Axar Patel's Stats In Asia And the UAE

Talking about Patel, the southpaw has played 38 matches in Asia and scored 261 runs, averaging 20.07. Interestingly, out of 38 matches, 34 have been played in India. 

Axar has only played four games in Asia outside India, in which he amassed just 10 runs. Further, Patel has never batted in the UAE, the venue for the Asia Cup in T20I history.

Patel's Run-Tally At Different Batting Positions

Overall, Axar has played 44 innings and amassed 535 runs, averaging just 18 in international cricket in T20Is. 

Now looking at Axar's stats as per batting order, his best performance has come at No.5, which also includes the 2024 T20 World Cup final heroics, which helped India win the title. Batting at No.5, Axar has scored 76 runs in just three innings, averaging just 25.33.

Mostly, Axar has batted at No.7 in T20Is, which is 26 innings, but he averages only 21 and has amassed 321 runs. Let's look at the stats.

Observations

India have a fixed batting order till No. 4 position because Samson/Gill and Abhishek are set to open, followed by Tilak Varma and SKY at four. Thus, the real question is whether Axar should bat ahead of Hardik Pandya at No.5 or go as low as No. 7 below Jitesh Sharma/ Sanju Samson.

Benefits Of Axar Playing At No. 5

One of the benefits of sending Axar Patel at No. 5 is to give the right-hand left-hand combinations early in the middle-order. Notably, spin will be effective in the middle-order given UAE is hosting the event.

Teams like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka are spin-heavy teams are sending Axar up the order, could help India tackle spin on top of the order.

Benefits Of Axar Patel Playing At No. 7

Having Axar Patel down the order gives a license to the batters playing ahead of him to go all guns blazing and don the ultra-aggressive role without any restrictions. 

The top-order batters would be aware of the fact that Axar is there to bat at No. 7, who has the quality of playing according to the situation in case of a collapse and match the high-scoring rate in case of aggressive and intentful innings. 

Conclusion

To conclude, Axar's stat isn't great with the bat at either of the batting position, but it is most likely that India will proceed with Axar as a floater in the upcoming Asia Cup. If not, then it is better to include Axar top of the order to give India that advantage over spin. 

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