Thought ball was chasing me, enjoyed Brook’s catch more: Axar

India vice-captain Axar Patel joked that the ball was “chasing” him throughout England’s run chase after his individual brilliance on the field made a decisive difference in the defending champions’ nervy seven-run win in the high-scoring T20 World Cup semifinal here.

On a belter of a track at the Wankhede, 499 runs were scored with England just falling short in their mammoth chase of 254.

India, who were guilty of dropping as many as 13 catches heading into the semifinals, upped their game on Thursday with Axar setting a rather high benchmark. He got rid of the dangerous Harry Brook and Will Jacks in two different yet important phases of the game.

The in-form Brook perished in the powerplay and it was down to a superhuman effort of Axar, who ran 24m backwards from the cover position to pull off a stunning catch off a slow-cutter from Jasprit Bumrah.

Axar’s second act of sheer brilliance came in the 14th over when Jacob Bethell and Jacks threatened to take the game away from India.

It was a wide full toss from Arshdeep Singh that Jacks sliced towards deep point and Axar scampered to his left to catch the ball before relaying it to Shivam Dube as he crossed the ropes. The grab of Jacks was more important considering the match situation but Axar felt the effort to dismiss Brook was a lot tougher.

“When I took the first catch of Harry Brook, it was a very good catch for me, it was tough. But if you look at the situation and the way the England batsmen were batting, the catch of Will Jacks was very important to break the partnership at that time,” he said.

“If you ask me, fielding-wise, Harry Brook catch was tougher. And yeah, luckily today, I thought the ball was chasing me (laughs),” added Axar when asked to pick between the two on-field moments of brilliance.

With the highest total in a knock-out game in tournament history, India thought they had enough but Bethell played a blinder of a knock take the game down to the wire. The 77-run stand between Bethell and Jacks put India under pressure but Axar said they remained confident in the middle overs as they had two overs each from Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah in the bag.

Bumrah just conceded six runs in the 18th over to tilt the game in India’s favour.

“At any point, we did not think that (the match was going away from their grasp). Simply because Arshdeep and Bumrah had two overs left. They have bowled well throughout the tournament. We thought we could contain them and that is what happened,” said Axar.

‘My son watching in Ahmedabad will be a proud moment’: India made a questionable call of benching Axar for two games in Ahmedabad against the Netherlands and the Super Eight game against South Africa. The move did not work as India lost badly to the Proteas.

Axar also did not play the 2023 ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad that India heartbreakingly lost to Australia.

Three years later, he is certain to play an ICC final at home and he could not be more excited. The jovial character also side the funny side of him not playing the two games at Ahmedabad earlier in the tournament.

“I think, that’s why I didn’t play those two matches (as I had to play the final), because it is very important for me, that I have been waiting for so many years, that you play a match in front of your family on the home ground, it is a very proud moment.

“I think, after two years, I will be playing on home ground, and that too, an ICC World Cup final, and yes, my son will also watch my first match live, and that is something that I am very proud of,” said the all-rounder.

Asked if the Ahmedabad jinx will be broken on Sunday, Axar’s sense of humour came to the fore again.

“I didn’t play that game (the final), now I think the jinx will be broken,” he laughed when reminded of the loss to Australia in the ODI showpiece finale.