Kings XI Punjab's left arm spinner Axar Patel, who recorded the first hat-trick of the ongoing Indian Premier league (IPl), on Monday said he is reaping the rewards for bowling slower through the air.
Patel's four wickets in five balls for his franchise helped break the backbone of their opponent Gujarat lions' batting on Sunday. The Kings XI won the match by 23 runs as Gujarat only managed to get to 131/9 while chasing a 155-run target.
Patel took 4/21 in his four overs to fashion the team's victory.
"Before the IPl, I was working on my flight. I worked on bowling slower through the air, so when a batsman comes down the track, I can bowl outside the off stump and beat him in flight," Patel was quoted as saying by the iplt20.com on Monday.
"Generally, batsmen stay rooted to the crease and play the cut shot off my bowling. So, this is the variation I have worked on and wanted to get it right."
Patel also said that this was his best ever bowling performance and winning the game made it more special to him.
"This has been my best bowling performance. I was just trying to do what I did in IPl-7. I was focusing on bowling in the right areas as that is something that had worked for me earlier," he said.
"I had never taken a hat-trick in my career before, so it feels really special that I got the milestone at this level. The fact that we won the game and my efforts have resulted in a win makes it even more special."
"This was an important win for us. We needed a breakthrough. All of us felt that we needed just one win to get going. Now, our morale is up and there is confidence within the team," he added.
Out of the four scalps he bagged on Sunday, Patel said he relished West Indian Dwayne Smith's dismissal the most.
"Getting Dwayne Smith's wicket was very important. He has been in terrific form with Brendon McCullum. I was worried that if he gets going like he did against Delhi Daredevils (53 off 30) and against Rising Pune Supergiants (63 off 37), it would put us in trouble," he said.
"I was happy that I got his wicket."
‘Axar's performance was superb’
Kings XI Punjab's new captain Murli Vijay has termed left-arm spinner Axar Patel's bowling spell as "incredible" during their stunning 23-run win over table toppers Gujarat lions in an Indian Premier league match here.
"One has to give credit to Axar (Patel). He was under pressure in previous matches. It was an incredible performance by Axar," said Vijay, who was appointed captain midway into the cash-rich tournament in place of David Miller.
Invited to bat by Gujarat lions skipper Suresh Raina, Kings XI Punjab were all out for 154 in the stipulated 20 overs, but restricted the opposition to 131 for 9.
Patel spun a web around the Gujarat batsmen and finished with impressive figures of 4/21 in his quota of four overs which included a split hat-trick.
Axar first removed dangerous Dwayne Smith in his second over and then took two consecutive wickets in last two balls of the over by removing Dinesh Karthik (2) and Dwayne Bravo (0). He came back to dismiss Ravindra Jadeja with the first ball of his third over to claim the hat-trick.
"We have been missing out on the smaller aspects of the game in the previous games. It was bound to come because we have quality players in the side," Vijay said.