IPL 2023: 'Axar Patel will have to bat higher,' says Sourav Ganguly

Add as a preferred source on Google

Axar Patel will soon be seen batting higher up the order, expectedly against Gujarat Titans in Delhi Capitals' first home game of the IPL 2023 season at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday, said Sourav Ganguly, who serves as DC's director of cricket.

Axar Patel has shown form with the bat during the white-ball home series for India in 2023 and was effective against Australia during the Border Gavaskar series too as he gave India's lower batting order much strength. He batted for DC at No. 8 and scored 16 runs in 11 balls against Lucknow Super Giants for a losing cause.

"We have discussed about Axar's batting position and hopefully, he will bat higher in the order," said Ganguly on the eve of the match. "He has batted exceptionally well for India in the recent past. He got a lot of runs against Australia in the Test series on difficult wickets and hopefully, he can score runs for us."

Ganguly also backed the likes of Sarfaraz Ahmed, Prithvi Shaw, and Chetan Sakariya to keep their spots in the team despite having not-so-good outings in Lucknow on Sunday. The former India captain and BCCI chief also added that South African pacer Anrich Nortje has joined in after serving his international team but is yet to be picked for the team.
"Anrich Nortje is here, but we haven't picked the team yet. Khaleel and Mukesh bowled well against Lucknow. Sakariya bowled well in his first two overs but went for a few runs in his last two, which can happen in T20 cricket. We have the required attack, hopefully, we'll be fine against Gujarat," Ganguly said.

The Delhi Capitals batters found it difficult to play against Mark Wood's pace in their last match, but Ganguly expressed that sometimes batters can have an off day, "Our batters have scored against fast bowling in the past. It's just that they got out against Lucknow Super Giants and sometimes that happens in sport. You have to give credit to Mark Wood for the way he bowled in the last game."

The match between Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans will begin at 7:30 PM IST on Tuesday.