After winning another Player of the Match award for India, expert spinner Kuldeep Yadav has credited Axar Patel, the all-rounder who was picked as the Impact Player of the match by the Indian management, and has praised the joint efforts from the Indian team.
From rattling their middle-order batter to restricting the Pakistan team to a score of less than 130 runs, Indian bowlers went gaga at the Dubai International Stadium. The Indian batters then dominated with the bat and won the match comfortably with 7 wickets remaining.
Axar Patel was picked as the Impact Player in the Indian dressing room
In the first Asia Cup match, Kuldeep Yadav was the player of the match for his stunning bowling spell. However, Shivam Dube was picked as the impact player, and the same has been repeated this time around as well.
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Kuldeep Yadav has once again been picked as the POTM, but Indian all-rounder Axar Patel has been coined as the Impact Player in the Indian dressing room. He was also tagged as the ‘silent killer’ during the medal presentation ceremony.
Kuldeep Yadav credits Axar Patel for his spin bowling success
After Axar Patel was picked as the Impact Player within the Indian dressing room, he was seen involved in a chat with the Player of the Match, Kuldeep Yadav, where they discussed several key factors that led to their dominance over their opposition.
“You have won back-to-back Man of the Match awards. How do you feel after getting to play after such a long time?” questioned Axar Patel.
“It feels great to play again after such a long gap. Maybe the hardwork that I did for the two months in England—I am reaping the fruits of it. I trained hard and ticked all the boxes, as I knew I would get an opportunity to play in the Asia Cup, as the UAE conditions seemed favourable,” said Kuldeep in turn.
Axar Patel asks, “How Important is it when you are under match pressure and at that time, you have confidence and everything, but yet you have to deliver on your own? So what’s your thought process and mindset then?”
Kuldeep Yadav retorted jokingly, referring to Axar Patel as his captain in IPL. He said, “Absolutely, Captain!! There are very small things, just like today, when we were bowling, you told me to put more revs on the ball; hence, I started using the grip and spin on the ball.”
“You had picked 2 wickets and then I picked 3 more, which was a collective effort from the team, but I have to credit you especially for bowling really well first up.”
Axar Patel lauds Indian team effort on the field; Expresses belief in Skipper Suryakumar Yadav
The Impact Player Axar Patel shed light on several aspects of the Indian team and has hyped their dominance in the Asia Cup.
“Every new match has a new wicket, but when we played here during the last match, I felt that with the speed I was bowling, it was getting easy for the batsman, so I assessed that a bit and tried bowling on the slower side,” Axar said on his crucial wickets in the middle order.
Kuldeep Yadav then went on to further question Axar on his view of the Indian team’s fielding effort, since he himself caught a stunning catch, while Hardik too was magnificent on the field. Axar Patel, in turn, showed faith and pride in India as a fielding unit, praising their determination.
Kuldeep to Axar, “What would you say about Suryakumar’s innings?”
Axar replied, “As a batsman, I know it is very difficult to rotate strike; you can’t just go and hit big shots. So here, it’s important to take calculated risks and play cricketing shots. He did that just in his innings. He is the captain; he has immense experience. It was a true captain’s knock from him.”
