My plan was to vary my pace: Axar Patel on his match winning spell in the fifth T20I

Axar Patel was outstanding in the fifth T20I for India

India outclassed West Indies to register an 88-run victory in the final T20I of a five-match series at the Broward County Stadium in Florida on Sunday.

The Hardik Pandya-led team decided to play three spinners on a small ground in Florida for the dead-rubber T20I. While this move could have backfired, given the power players that West Indies had in their ranks, the spinners responded to the challenge brilliantly. The trio of Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi shared all 10 wickets between them to restrict West Indies to just 100 runs.

All-rounder Axar Patel set the tone in the first over of the chase when he dismissed West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder for a three-ball duck. The left-arm spinner continued to impress with his clever bowling to take three for 15. Although he could not finish his full quota of four overs, he still bagged the player of the match award for his spell in the powerplay. 

Axar Patel on his bowling plan

Speaking in the post-match presentation about his heroics with the ball, Axar said he planned to vary the plan knowing the nature of the pitch.

Furthermore, Axar Patel added that he can be a batting all-rounder as well as a bowling all-rounder for Team India because of his versatility.

"My plan was to vary my pace. I knew wickets were slow. And tried to bowl stump to stump. The main thing is that I need to back my strength, because, in T20s, batters try to hit you. So you just focus on bowling good areas and using your strength and your pace,” Axar Patel was quoted as saying after the match.

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