T20 World Cup: Indias Axar Patel may be moved up batting order to fill lefthander void

Axar Patel, the 28-year-old Indian allrounder filling
in for Ravindra Jadeja in the T20 World Cup, may be moved up the batting order
in the middle overs if the need arises, the batter said recently. Patel, from
the western state of Gujarat, fills the critical void of lefthanded batters in
the Indian squad. Currently, India have only three lefthanded batters in the
squad – Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel and Arshdeep Singh.

While Pant often misses out a place in the playing eleven
on account of Dinesh Karthik’s presence, Arshdeep Singh is a full-time bowler
with little to none battling chops. This leaves Axar as the only batter to fill
that lefthanded void in India’s top order. The first six batters in the India
line-up are lefthanded.

“Since our top six are righthanders, I have been told
by management that, if need be, I will be promoted in the middle overs and I
should be ready for that. That role is already assigned and I have performed in
practice games,” Axar said, Times Now reported.

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India have had a dream run at the T20 World Cup so far
winning both of the two matches they played. In the first match, Pakistan set
India a target of 160 runs. In a difficult contest, it was Virat Kohli who led the
team to a last-ball victory. Axar was moved up to bat at number 5 against
Pakistan, but failed to impress and got out after scoring just two runs.

Patel performed better against Netherlands in the
second India match, taking two wickets. He did not have to bat against the Dutchmen.

India will play South Africa in their third match of
the T20 World Cup on Sunday. There is speculation about whether Axar Patel will
be played against South Africa or will he be replaced with Deepak Hooda, a righthanded
batting allrounder.