Axar Patel

One of many left-arm orthodox spinners from Gujarat, Axar made his first-class debut for Gujarat at the tender age of 18, in a Vijay Hazare Trophy game in Mumbai and his Ranji Trophy debut in November 2012, but it was only in the 2013/14 season that he started to deliver performances of greater significance, picking up 29 wickets and scoring runs by the barrel.

Axar came into the public limelight after he was signed by the Mumbai Indians for the sixth edition of the IPL. Mumbai didn't give him an opportunity and he remained a fringe player for them throughout the season. Kings XI Punjab, however, roped him in for the next season, which turned out to be a successful move as he emerged as one of the exciting young talents in his first season with the franchise.

A self-proclaimed batting all-rounder, Patel had some trouble getting chances to bat up the order. Nevertheless, he troubled many batsmen with his accurate bowling, cramping them up for room and buying wickets - the need of the hour in T20 cricket. Axar ended his second IPL in 2014 with 17 wickets and also scored some crucial runs down the order. Most importantly though, Axar had come through with the ball for his captain George Bailey in pressure situations and was thereby a fine choice for the Emerging Player of the Tournament award. This earned him a period of probation with the Indian team at the tender age of 20, as he travelled to Bangladesh for the ODI series in 2014. He was impressive against Bangladesh and even did well enough to keep first choice left-armer Ravindra Jadeja out of the side in the home series against Sri Lanka. After an impressive showing, the selectors decided to persist with him and he retained his spot in the squad for the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. With the Indian bowling attack heavy on pace due to the more seam-friendly conditions in Australia, Axar had to sit out and didn't get a chance to play on the world's biggest stage. He was back in the mix in the subcontinent, though, as India toured Bangladesh in June.

Axar, despite churning out some decent performances, was always under the shadow of the more experienced Ravindra Jadeja. He missed out on selection for the 2017 Champions Trophy and in the period that followed, he failed to break into the side on a regular basis even when Jadeja was absent due to injuries. He was named as a stand-by player for India’s 2019 Cricket World Cup squad. Pigeonholed as a limited-overs player, Axar’s Test debut only came in India’s home series against England in 2021 and he wasted no time to impress. He became only the ninth Indian bowler to take a fifer on debut when he recorded figures of 5-60 in the 2nd of the 2nd Test at Chennai. Axar finished as the second-highest wicket-taker of the series with 27 wickets to his name despite featuring in only 3 of the games. A string of good all-round performances thereafter meant that Axar was always in consideration for India in all three formats, especially when they needed a third spinner in sub-continent conditions.

Axar also achieved the unique feat of an IPL hat-trick when he took 4 wickets in 5 balls against the Gujarat Lions in 2016. While his batting wasn’t anything to write home about, Axar continued to be a tidy and dependable 4-overs bowler for the Punjab franchise in the following years. His reliable performances meant that he netted an INR 5 crore bid from the Delhi Capitals in the 2019 IPL Auction. He was retained by Delhi for the next two seasons and saw his fortunes swing for the better in the 2022 IPL Mega Auction after the Capitals re-enlisted his services for a sizeable INR 12 crore.

By Rishi Roy and Anurag Hegde