Axar Patel goes berserk; smashes 4, 6, 4 en route to fiery fifty in Duleep Trophy; fans get ‘World Cup final’ flashback

Axar Patel has emerged to be a 'crisis man'. He had bailed out the Indian team on several occasions throughout his career, most famously in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa earlier in June. And he emulated the same on Thursday, on Day 1 of the opening round of the 2024 Duleep Trophy at the Anantapur Stadium in Andhra Pradesh for India D in the match against C team.

Axar walked out to bat in the 11th over of India D's innings after the Shreyas Iyer-led side, put to bat first by C team captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, was left reeling at 34 for five. Although he started on a cautious note, scoring just three runs of the first 25 balls he faced, he changed gears and played the role of an aggressor post-lunch.

The left-handed batter went all guns blazing from the 39th over onwards when he smashed a six against bowler Manav Suthar, followed by two boundaries and then another six which saw him complete his fifty in 77 balls. Axar's counter-attacking game rubbed off on fellow batter Arshdeep Singh as well, who smashed a six to deep mid-wicket.

Axar was eventually dismissed for 86 off 118, laced with six boundaries and as many maximums, as India D recovered to score 164 all out in 48.3 overs.

The knock gave fans a flashback of his recovery act in the World Cup final on June 29, when he scored 47 off 31, and stitched a 72-run stand alongside Virat Kohli, who carved out a rather sluggish 76 to help India amass 176 for seven in 20 overs after being left at 34 for four inside the powerplay.

What happened on Day 1 of India C vs India D in Duleep Trophy?

Barring Axar, none of the India hopefuls in India D lived up to the expectation. Captain Iyer, who is aiming to make a comeback to the Indian middle-order line-up for the upcoming tow-match Test series against Bangladesh since being dropped from the side midway through the England home series earlier this year, scored only a 16-ball nine, while Devdutt Padikkal, who scored an impressive fifty on his Test debut in the England series in Dharamsala, was dismissed for a four-ball duck. KS Bharat, who fell out of reckoning in the Indian team after failing to score a fifty on any of his seven appearances, managed only a 42-ball 13.

For India C, Vijaykumar Vyshak, who was among the Indian uncapped bowlers to have been handed a special fast-bowling contract from the BCCI, was the pick of the bowlers with his 3 for 19, while Anshul Kamboj and Himanshu Chauhan picked two wickets each.