Axar Patel says India were ‘surprised by the Wankhede pitch’ in T20 World Cup game against USA 

USA were hit by the unexpected injury to Ali Khan , who had bowled brilliantly to give just 13 runs in his first two overs where he also dismissed Abhishek Sharma for a first-ball duck. Due to the injury he couldn’t bowl his other two overs. And USA had to go to Saurabh Netravalkar, who didn’t have a great day for two overs in the end. He went for 21-runs apiece in those two overs and that 42 proved vital. 

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Axar said the early collapse was a good experience for the Indian team.

“About those wickets that fell early that’s cricket. It’s good that this happened in the first match itself. In cricket, understanding the pitch is important. We will be better off for this experience.”

Mohammad Siraj too had talked about the pitch where the ball was stopping on the batsmen. He said the opener Ishan Kishan had talked about it in the dressing room. “When Ishan was playing, he said it’s a two-paced pitch, and we felt 170 was a good score. That proved to be right.”

Axar Patel emphasized the need for adaptability rather than abandoning India’s aggressive approach.

“It’s not about changing style. Just that we had to adapt and not hit every ball (for couple of overs there).”

On his partnership with the in-form Suryakumar, Axar revealed: “The chat with [coach Gautam] Gambhir was also about taking it to the last over… to see which bowlers to take on.”