Former BCCI Selector Vouches for Axar Patel to Make the Squad in the 4th BGT Test

The 4th Test in Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the final call as to who grabs the championship trophy between India and Australia, and if Axar will be in the squad

Written by: Arjita Gupta

Edited by: Krutarth Ghosalkar

Last Updated: 2023-03-08 08:45:17

India has won the first two matches in the four-match Test against Australia. Going in for the next match in the line with a 2-1 lead already, Australia made a comeback in the third game and scored a win after two losses. The visiting team thus earned a spot in the World Test Championship finale. India can however win the fourth and get the same position, for the match that will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday.

Speculations say that the team may go through a few changes in the squad. For those who were part of the third Test, where the team lost by 9 wickets at Indore, Kuldeep Yadav may replace Axar Patel. But Saba Karim, former wicketkeeper of India has suggested not dropping Axar as he is good at his home ground, Ahmedabad, earlier making contributions with his bat.

Though he has not done much with the ball as Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, the two spinners for India, he does not deserve to sit out. As for the statistics, Axar has been able to take only one wicket in his 39 overs through the series where he bowled in five Australian innings. While he did amazing with his bat in his Test career, the 29-year-old has lost his shine a bit with the ball.

Axar is otherwise, trailing India captain Rohit Sharma as the second-highest run scorer in the current series. Sharma made a century in the very first test while Axar scored 185 runs in the entire four innings. He has an average run score of 92.50, including a highest score of 84 and two half-centuries. Axar scored his highest of 84 runs in the first Test played at Nagpur.

Ravindra Jadeja supported the 88-run partnership standing strong for the eighth wicket, helping the Indian team to mark 400 runs after Australia was all out batting first, scoring only 177 runs. The Australian team fell at 91, handing the team India a massive win by 132 runs and an inning.

In the second test, Axar scored 74 off 155 balls in the first Indian innings. He took the scorecard of the team to 262, making sure the opponents had only a lead by a run in the second innings. But Australia had a three-figure lead and got defeated by 6 wickets.