Axar Patel won the Man of the Match award for his brilliant all-round display against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 34th match of IPL 2023.
Axar Patel won the Man of the Match award for his brilliant all-round display against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 34th match of IPL 2023. Axar, who has been in sensational form with the willow across formats this year, first steered his team to a fighting total with a fine knock of 34 runs off as many balls and later snared two crucial wickets to help his team register its second consecutive win.
When Axar Patel came into bat, Delhi Capitals were reeling at 62/5 after the completion of 8 overs. The southpaw played a prudent knock and snitched a vital 69-run partnership with Manish Pandey, who also batted well for 34 runs in 27 balls, to help DC post a respected total of 144/9 in their 20 overs.
With the ball, Axar bowled a terrific spell where he conceded only 21 runs while scalping two massive wickets of Mayank Agarwal and Aiden Markram to derail SRH’s innings off the track. The 29-year-old altered his trajectories shrewdly, bowling at varying paces and deceiving variations from time to time.
Axar, along with Kuldeep Yadav, stifled Hyderabad batters in the middle overs by giving absolutely nothing off their bowling. SRH’s batters crumbled under pressure and later fell short by 7 runs in the end.
In the post-match presentation, Axar Patel disclosed a comical incident about the first innings, when he had to rush in at an unexpected point of the innings. Delhi Capitals lost three wickets in a single over bowled by Washington Sundar, which tempted Axar to go in for batting very early.
The Gujarat-born told Harsha Bhogle he was ready to have his coffee just when DC started losing the wickets in bulk in the 8th over.
“I ordered coffee, and I left the glass like that when three wickets fell in one over,” stated Axar Patel about what was a really nice incident. “It’s still there with the packing (laughs),” he added upon being asked about the state of that coffee now.
ALSO READ: “They are trying to give me a farewell,” MS Dhoni provides another indication of his retirement
The all-rounder can now have anything he wants after a match-winning performance. Axar’s coffee will taste sweeter now.
