Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting on Tuesday revealed how “little technical changes” made whereas enjoying for Delhi Capitals helped Axar Patel become an efficient batter for India.
Ponting is hoping to “get a bit more out of him” when he turns up for Delhi Capitals on this IPL.
Axar (264 runs) has impressed in the course of the Border-Gavaskar Test collection towards Australia, slamming three half-centuries to emerge because the second highest scorer for India behind Virat Kohli (297 runs) from 5 innings.
“I’ve known Axar for a long time and he was only a young boy in the squad at Mumbai when I first went there,” Ponting advised the ICC Review.
“I’ve known that there’s been a certain amount of batting skill there that really, apart from the last couple of years, he hadn’t really been showing at IPL level or even at international level.
“There were a few little technique changes that we made with him. We just opened up his hips and his shoulders a little bit. So he was a bit more chest-on towards the right-arm fast bowlers.” The 29-year-old bowling all-rounder didn’t make his IPL debut for MI in 2013. He flourished throughout his five-year stint at Kings XI Punjab and emerged as among the best white-ball performers with some good present for the Delhi Capitals over the past 4 seasons.
Ponting, who’s the coach of Delhi Capitals, mentioned Axar used to battle towards the quick ball early in his profession.
“If there was ever a weakness in his game, it was the short ball that was sort of directed at his body. The reason that he was a bit weak in that area was he was too side-on, and the ball was always sort of in behind his right shoulder,” Ponting mentioned.
“We just tried to open him up a little bit, which gave him a little bit more access to the ball. He’s always been a beautiful offside player. You know, his cover driving and cutting is as good as anyone’s. And if anything, he was just a little bit too blocked off to be able to score well on the leg side.
“We tweaked a few things there and because he’s such a good young person to work with, and he’s obviously very talented, so therefore he was a fast learner and was able to pick things up really quickly and change his technique enough to show really, really good improvement really early on.” “I want to get a bit more out of him at DC this year”
Impressed along with his batting, Ponting desires to advertise Axar slightly up the order to get extra out of him on this IPL.Ponting desires to advertise Axar slightly up the order to get extra out of him on this IPL.
“I want to get a bit more out of him at the Delhi Capitals this year, that’s for sure,” Ponting mentioned.
“A few times last year we sort of batted him up a little bit higher. I think he’s good enough to bat No.6 probably in an IPL team.” Ponting additionally feels Axar is able to batting at No.6 or No.7 for India within the longest format.
“He’s good enough to bat at six or seven in a Test match team as well,” he mentioned.
“The higher he bats in first-class cricket, and if he plays some more Test cricket even outside of India, then I think he could hold down a six or seven spot in a Test team as well.
“He’s the sort of player that I think could make a lot of first-class hundreds. That’s where it’s got to start for him, maybe get some support in his state team and maybe bat a little bit up the order there.”
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com