India vs Australia 2nd Test: Axar Patel slams second consecutive fifty, raises his stocks as an all-rounder

New Delhi, Feb 18: India all-rounder Axar Patel continued to raise his stocks with the bat as he slammed a crucial half-century in the first innings of the second Test on Saturday (February 18).

Axar - who played an important knock of 84 in the first innings of the Nagpur Test - notched up his second consecutive fifty and revived India from a precarious situation.

He walked in the middle to bat when India were in a spot of bother. The hosts were 135/6 and trailing by 128 runs when the left-handed batter joined fellow spin-bowling all-rounder R Ashwin in the middle.

The duo shared a crucial stand of 114 runs for the eighth wicket and ensured the hosts post 262 runs in the first innings. Ashwin (37 off 71 balls) and Axar (74 off 115 balls) played vital knocks and prevented the visitors from restricting India to a low total.

Crowd favourite Virat Kohli - who was looking in fine touch - was unlucky to be dismissed for 44 in a controversial fashion. The right-handed batter was trapped in front by debutant Matthew Kunhemann and left his team in the lurch. Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja (26) fell in quick succession in the post-lunch session after getting set meant the hosts were pushed to the backfoot.

Axar's knock was the highlight of the Indian innings

Axar's innings was a decisive one and the southpaw mixed caution with aggression in his entire knock. He kept punishing the oddballs from the Aussie bowlers. His knock was laced with nine boundaries and three maximums. The Gujarat cricketer notched up his half-century with a maximum.

Happy to score runs for the team: Axar

Patel was dismissed for 74 while trying to up the ante as eight players were already in the pavilion and it was a fabulous catch from Pat Cummins at mid-on which ended his knock.

Reacting over his knock, the left-handed batter claimed as he kept middling the ball his confidence rose. "Obviously it feels good to score runs, but the important thing was coming back from a pressure situation. I think because I was able to defend off the middle, my confidence rose and then I was attacking balls that were in my slot," he said.

The all-rounder further claimed that he sees himself as an all-rounder, "I was asked in West Indies if I'm a batting or bowling all-rounder. My answer is simple - if I score runs I'm a batting all-rounder, if I get wickets I'm a bowling all-rounder."

Throwing more light on his innings at iconic Kotla pitch, Axar said, "I got used to the pace of the wicket today, and the ball wasn't coming on too quickly so I got time. I was trying to attack the left-arm spinner because that's my match-up. We'd like to reduce them to as low a target as possible, I think the morning session tomorrow will be important. We need to bowl well and pick a couple of wickets."