Team surprised by nature of Wankhede pitch: Axar Patel
India vice-captain Axar Patel said the team was surprised by the nature of the pitch in its T20 World Cup opener against USA at the usually high-scoring Wankhede Stadium. Despite the batting collapse on a tricky pitch, Axar said the team was confident of putting a competitive total on board. After put in to bat, India slipped to a dangerous position of 77/6 against the USA but skipper Suryakumar Yadav’s 49-ball 84 not out bailed them out, propelling the hosts to a match-winning 161/9.
India restricted USA to 132/8 to win the contest by 29 runs. “The planning is according to the match situation. Generally, the wicket in Mumbai is flat (and) we took about three overs to determine what would be a good score,” Axar told the reporters after the match. “The dressing room atmosphere was like that... The kind of confidence with which we are coming in, we knew even if one batter gets going we would reach around 140-150. The wicket was also behaving (differently).”
“We were surprised because we thought that this is a flat wicket which generally in Mumbai is,” he added. Axar added that the dressing room did feel a little pressure given India suffered a batting collapse that too in the opening match of the T20 World Cup. “Obviously, you feel that because in last (so many) tournaments there has been such an early collapse. Cricket is like this, (but then) it’s good that it happened in the first match,” he said. “It is important to understand the nature of the wicket and the type of cricket we have been playing, we were not able to execute the shots. If it happens again, we will have the experience to take it to 160-170.”
“You have to change your style looking at the wicket but we were playing attacking cricket only and not just playing defensively or taking singles or doubles. You have to hit the way the wicket is behaving,” Axar said. Axar said the plan was to put a score in the vicinity of 140, adding that in such situations the team ends up getting a total in excess. “We (Suryakumar and I) talked about taking it till the end because we had no batter left. We wanted to stick around for the next 2-3 overs and then accelerate,” he said. “The player that he is, you know what happens when he is in form. After last year, the form he showed in the New Zealand series and is continuing to show it and he knows what his game is, which he showed in a big match today (Saturday), Axar added.
