Axar Patel reveals ‘knockout mindset’ after guiding India to semis win over England

Axar Patel opened up about his mindset during the knockout stage of a marquee tournament.

The Indian spinner revealed that he bowled with the idea of starting and finishing the first and last over really well. Axar was able to implement his ideology as he picked up the wicket of Jonny Bairstow on the very first ball of his over. He went onto pick 3 wickets and was awarded as the Player of the Match for his all-round effort. India beat England by 68 runs to storm into the final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. The men in blue ended a decade-long wait as they reached the final of the T20 World Cup.

The ball was turning sharply and staying low and the Indian spinners exploited the conditions really well. Axar was given his very first over in the powerplay itself and the left-arm pacer managed to deceive England skipper Jos Buttler on the reverse-sweep with his first ball and gave India their most crucial breakthrough. The England team succumbed to spin as Axar found an able partner in Kuldeep Yadav, who also scalped three crucial wickets.

Axar spins magic vs England

Axar gave a sneak-peak into his mindset while bowling in a big-ticket match like this.

“I think I didn’t plan to hit wickets on first ball. I had a mindset that I have to put it in a good place. Obviously, when you play knockouts, your mindset is that you should start and finish the first and last ball well. That was in my mind. Obviously, every time I did well with the wicket, that was a plus point. I think it was difficult to hit big shots, and it was difficult to hit sweep and reverse sweep because if the ball was down on this wicket, you can’t connect it so easily,” Axar said in the post-match press-conference.

Axar reveals his mindset
Axar also opened up about the all-important wicket of Buttler, who fell against him while playing a reverse-sweep.

“Because batsmen have a doubt that if I go to sweep, if the ball is down, I can hit it on the pad. It depends on what line length you put. Mostly our spinners kept it stump to stump. So, it was very difficult to hit sweep rewards on this wicket.”

“And to hit the front, you have to hit the front as much as possible, but as we saw in the videos, his batsmen are a bit on the backfoot, so he didn’t get it so easily. He has to take out his leg and you have to take a step forward and play on this wicket, whatever type of wicket,” Axar added.

India will face South Africa in the final of the T20 World Cup 2024 on June 29, Sunday.