Bangladesh vs India: Axar Patel is India’s ultimate utility player – but won’t ever be a first-choice option
In recent times, there have been a lot of players tried out by the Indian cricket team in various roles, often with varying degrees of success. One player who, during that time, has gotten a lot of game time for one reason or the other is Axar Patel
Image credit: PA Images Will Axar Patel play for the Indian team even after the return of Ravindra Jadeja?The left-arm orthodox spin bowling all-rounder has a decent number of India caps. He’s played 7 Tests, 46 ODIs, and 37 T20Is for the Indian cricket team.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Passion. Energy. Commitment. 🙌🇮🇳 <a href="https://t.co/FOeM3MgOe4">pic.twitter.com/FOeM3MgOe4</a></p>— Akshar Patel (@akshar2026) <a href="https://twitter.com/akshar2026/status/1604341055255724032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
And that’s not an insufficient amount of games considering he is often seen as the backup choice to Ravindra Jadeja – and is sometimes not even the preferred first-choice in Jadeja’s absence.
But is he someone who can and should be getting more game time for India, or is he best suited to being a utility player?
First off, let’s take a look at his Test numbers – mainly because in this format, he will forever be viewed as a utility player, as his numbers will prove.
From his 7 Test matches, only one has come away from home – and that too was in Bangladesh in the first of two Tests being played right now.
Before that, his Test career was limited solely to India. This could partially be because the Indian team has generally preferred one spinner overseas, and then it is a toss-up between Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.
But it is indicative, nevertheless, that he is not even considered an option in SENA countries. And a quick look at his white-ball numbers will give a clear indication as to why that is the case.
His ODI career has only seen him play four games in Australia, and he’s not been selected for 50 rounds in South Africa, England and New Zealand.
And in these four games, his stats are damning, to say the least – he’s played four matches, scored one run and taken two wickets.
His T20I numbers in SENA countries are similar. He’s played seven games across SENA nations, where he’s scored 27 runs – with a high score of 17, meaning he’s scored a total of 10 runs in the remaining six matches.
And he’s taken three wickets, 2 of which came in the exact match – which means he’s taken just one wicket in the remaining six games.
All of this has led to an impression – that is, to some degree correct – of Axar being an effective player in favourable conditions but of little use elsewhere.
Even in Tests, where he’s taken a good 41 wickets, 27 came in a home series against England – which included a Test match at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, which was, to put it politely, an absolute dust bowl where any spinner would have gotten purchase.
And to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with Axar as a player – he quite clearly has his role to play and does it well enough.
But given his limited ability, the best he can hope for is a role as a squad player for the Indian team and little else.