Axar Patel hasn’t let India feel the absence of their star spinner Ravindra Jadeja as he has delivered superb bowling performances in the ongoing series against England.
The 27-year-old has had a superb start to his Test career as he has three five-wicket hauls to his name now in just two matches. Jadeja was ruled out of the series with a thumb injury and hence, his absence was being considered as a big blow to India ahead of the series. But Axar has filled Jadeja’s shoes nicely and former India batsman Sunil Gavaskar has gone on to say that Jadeja might be thinking why his thumb is taking so long to recover.
“Jadeja is now wondering what happened to his thumb. He is asking the doctor why his dislocated thumb has taken so long to recover. He got hit on the 10th of January and it is now end of February, for a dislocated thumb to take that long, ooh,” Gavaskar said during a discussion on Star Sports Network.
Former England spinner Graeme Swann was also present in the discussion and he said in a light-hearted manner that Jadeja could consider playing for England when he returns.
“I am a huge fan of Jadeja. Seeing how well Axar Patel has done, I think he should go on leave for a week and Jadeja can either come and play for England or can play for India because I think Axar Patel has done enough for now, we have seen enough of him, haven’t we,” Swann said.
Gavaskar went on to praise Axar further for the way he has bowled in this series. What he has liked the most about the tall and lanky spinner is his immaculate line and length.
“You have got to say that the pitch did help him [Axar Patel] in both the games, no question about it, but then he utlilised it very well. What he did was he bowled to his strengths, his strength is accuracy and he was landing the ball in the nice little grouping around the off and middle, which meant when the ball went straight he was getting his men out LBW and when the ball turned he was creating doubts in the batsmen’s minds,” Gavaskar concluded.
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