Axar Patel credits IPL and Ricky Ponting for his batting improvement

image-l8etha52Axar Patel with Ricky Ponting (Image via Twitter)

Ravindra Jadeja's injury dealt India a serious setback as they were preparing for the T20I World Cup in October of this year. He was an important lower-order player whose versatility gave the side stability. When he was moved up the batting order in the Asia Cup 2022 group game against Pakistan, he performed remarkably well.

In his absence, Axar Patel has been utilised by India in recent games to fill the void. Patel displayed his impressive bowling in the opening T20I against Australia on Tuesday, taking three significant wickets. Now, in order to earn a spot on the World Cup team, he must play well with the bat as well.

Axar Patel credits IPL stint for batting highs

Due to his outstanding performances in the Indian Premier League, Axar Patel has been named in the Indian team. He is a well-known bowling all-rounder who has concentrated on improving his batting to make it the Indian team for the T20I World Cup.

image-l8ethjqjAxar Patel played a match-winning knock against West Indies (Image via Twitter)

The 28-year-old credits his IPL 2022 stint with Delhi Capitals under head coach Ricky Ponting for the development in his batting in a video posted on bcci.tv. He claimed that when Ponting singled him out as the team's finisher, he intensified his batting practice in the nets.

“I would say that I am being given more responsibility with the bat. For Delhi Capitals (DC), I was batting at No. 6 in the finisher’s role. In fact, Ricky Ponting told me that I would be the finisher in the team."

"After being given that responsibility, I started working harder in the nets to prepare for the role. I started thinking what I needed to do to succeed in the position. Once you are able to finish a couple of games, your confidence goes up. I think that confidence is what is improving my batting."

Notably, in the second ODI in the West Indies in July, Axar Patel scored an unbeaten 64 from 35 balls. His quick-fire performance had aided India in winning the game. In IPL 2022, the left-handed batter had a strike rate of 151.67 and scored 182 runs.

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