Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav revealed Axar Patel was angry when he was dropped from the all-important T20 World Cup Super 8 stage match against South Africa. India suffered a 76-run loss against the Proteas when Washington Sundar was preferred ahead of the vice-captain and Patel was then added to the team for the clash against Zimbabwe.
The left-arm orthodox spinner returned with impressive figures of 3-27 in three overs he bowled in the summit clash against New Zealand and played a key role in helping the team defend the target of 256. Patel was able to get the big wicket of Finn Allen, who had scored a 33-ball century against South Africa in the semifinal.
Furthermore, in the semifinal clash against England, Patel took two brilliant catches to turn the match in India’s favor.
“He was very angry — and he should have been. He’s an experienced player, he leads a franchise. He should be angry. I apologised. I told him I made a mistake and I’m sorry, but it was a call for the team. It was a hard conversation. He took it in his stride and we talked it through the next day,” Suryakumar Yadav told the Indian Express.
On the other hand, SKY revealed how he backed underfire Abhishek Sharma, who struggled with his form throughout the tournament. However, Sharma finally grabbed his chance in the final, scoring a blistering knock of 52 runs off just 21 balls.
“That’s his identity as a player — when he bats for six or eight overs, he finishes games. I told him once: there are nine games in this World Cup, even if you fail in eight of them, score zero in all eight — I am taking the guarantee that you will face the first ball in the final. Such players change games when they bat. I knew a day would come where he would finish it off,” Suryakumar Yadav said.
“In the final, Axar sat next to me and said: we have two world No. 1 players in this team and they will fire today. Abhishek was working so hard, and in the final, he scored 50 off 18 balls. Six overs, 90 runs. From there, the game was completely different. It’s very important to persist with such players,” he added.
Abhishek added 98 runs with Sanju Samson for the opening alliance to give a flying start to the team.
