Thinking like batter key to Axar Patel's success

Axar Patel let out the most innocent of smiles when asked what he made of Nathan Lyon’s lofty praise of him and R Ashwin.

Lyon reckoned the two of them could slot into the top six of most teams for most Test-playing nations, and Axar, once he was done with his shy beaming, said: “It’s all about confidence and trying to remain consistent.”

Neither did Axar deny Lyon’s assessment nor did he accept it, he instead chose to digress, but he did offer an alternative theory, albeit cheekily, when asked about why he and Ashwin were successful on the day.

"When we’re bowling, we think how the batter is making things difficult for us,” he said. “I use the same technique while batting. If the bowler is landing all the balls in the same area, the batters keep defending confidently. While batting, we also try to defend confidently and force him to change his tactics. Having a bowler’s mindset helps in batting as well.”

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Thanks mainly to the century-stand between Axar and Ashwin for the eighth-wicket, India rallied to 262 all out in response to Australia’s 263. Axar belted 74 from 115 balls with nine fours and three sixes, while Ashwin came up with 37 from 71 balls.

Even in Nagpur, although they weren’t under the pump, Jadeja came up with 70 and Axar played himself into a fine 84.

Speaking about his evolution as a batter, Axar said: “At Delhi Capitals (in the Indian Premier League), I talked a lot with Ricky (Ponting) on how I can get better with my batting. Even in the Indian team, I was talking to the batters. I felt I was not realising my potential with 30s and 40s. I was not able to finish the game. So it was a lot about the mindset. Sometimes you can relax as an all-rounder if you have taken wickets, you could get casual. I thought I could improve on that and convert my 30s and 40s into match-winning scores. That is how I think now and that has made a big difference.”

India, though not out of the woods yet, were saved the blushes by the lower-order after stuttering to 66 for 4 and then 139 for 7.

“There was pressure and we were behind,” the left-arm spinner explained. “So, it was important to get as close to the Australian target as possible. When Ashwin and I got set, we thought the wicket was getting easier to bat on and felt we could forge a long partnership. Eventually, we ended just one run behind Australia. So felt good about that.”

Axar also revealed that the pitch is getting slower, and it’s only getting harder for spinners to get purchase. That said, any total Australia set is going to be hard as a fourth-innings chase on a pitch which is clearly showing signs of deterioration.

“The sooner we bowl them out the better. If we can stop them between 220-250, we can defend that while batting on day four. We will have to vary our pace to test the batters,” he said.