First Half-century after 126 IPL Matches! This Delhi Capitals Player is making the most of his batting form

Axar Patel played an exceptional hand against Mumbai Indians to compile his maiden half-century in Indian Premier League. This was his first IPL fifty in 126 games. Axar has been in terrific form with the willow of late, and he again papered over the below-par performance of Delhi Capitals’ middle-order.

Axar Patel hits his maiden half-century in the IPL

When Patel came into bat, Delhi Capitals were reeling at 98/5 in the 13th over. The southpaw took the attack back on MI bowlers right away. There were negative match-ups in the form of Tilak Varma and Hrithik Shokeen, but Axar found his way out.

A promising momentum-changing fifty by @akshar2026 in the first innings makes him our 🔝 performer from the first innings of the #DCvMI contest in the #TATAIPL 👌👌

A look at his batting summary 🔽 pic.twitter.com/alOTTzZsTb

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 11, 2023

The 29-year-old accumulated 54 runs in just 25 balls in the innings, comprising four boundaries and five maximums. Axar struck at 216 in this flawless knock.

The track was not easy to bat on, as displayed by the batting performance of other batters. David Warner, despite facing as many as 47 balls, couldn’t get going at any point of the innings. But Axar seemed to be batting on a completely different track against Mumbai Indians.

He has shown his range and power-hitting against both pace and spin in IPL 2023. He has pulled Delhi Capitals out of troubled waters earlier as well.

In IPL 2023, Axar has scored 108 runs at an average of 27 and a strike rate of 168.75 with the bat. He has a balls-per-boundary ratio of 4.00 as well. However, his class and improved range hitting are more striking.

Axar has improved massively on the batting front in the past year or so. Even on the arduous tracks in the Test series against Australia, Axar continued scoring runs for fun. He has just built on that performance.

He had played several impactful knocks in the IPL over the years. But, surprisingly, Axar’s fifty against Mumbai Indians was his maiden in the cash-rich league. His batting position is a huge reason for his low but impactful knocks too.

On the basis of his current form, Axar’s batting position seems a tad low, particularly when a majority of DC’s middle-order has underfired. It’s time to slot Axar at No. 5 for Delhi Capitals now.