Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif praised Axar Patel after the T20I series against Afghanistan. Patel scalped four wickets in three matches of the series at an average of 16 and economy rate of 5.82, which was second-best in the series. 

However, Kaif reckons Patel could have taken more wickets if he had received more support from his fielders. Tilak Varma, who is mostly a save fielder, dropped a sitter to give one more life to Noor ul Rahman off Axar Patel’s bowling in the third T20I on Thursday.

Earlier in the series, Ishan Kishan dropped a simple catch off Patel’s bowling in the opening game whereas Ravi Bishnoi also dropped a catch off Patel’s bowling while diving forward at long-off.

On the other hand, Ravi Bishnoi also took four wickets in two matches and Kaif said the leg-spinner’s performance was one of the biggest takeaways for the team.

“He is the biggest takeaway from this series, Ravi Bishnoi. Along with Nitish Kumar Reddy and Axar Patel. We don’t take Axar’s name too often, but he was a bit unlucky because 3-4 catches were dropped off his bowling. If the catches were taken, he could have had 15 wickets in this series. He comes in the powerplay, bowls with the new ball, dismisses Gurbaz in this match, and then picks wickets with the old ball as well,” Mohammad Kaif said on Cricbuzz.

Kaif said Bishnoi is being backed more than Kuldeep Yadav in the T20I team after the former has worked on his run-up.

“Ravi Bishnoi used to be in and out of the team, but now he is being backed more ahead of Kuldeep. After watching him bowl in the 3rd T20I, I feel that he is analyzing his bowling. Firstly, he has straightened his run-up, earlier he used to run in from wide of the crease, because of which he bowled a lot of back-foot no-balls. He also used to bowl flat and defensively, keeping the ball away from the left-handers, but now he is bowling fuller and on the stumps. I think the changes he is making are for the better,” Mohammad Kaif said.

India will next take on Japan in a one-off T20I.