IPL 13: Will look to bowl carrom ball when I get hit for 2-3 sixes, says Axar Patel

Delhi Capitals' spinner Axar Patel has revealed that he has been taking inspiration from teammate Ravichandran Ashwin and is looking to master the art of bowling the carrom-ball in crunch match situations.

Delhi Capitals' spinner Axar Patel has revealed that he has been taking inspiration from teammate Ravichandran Ashwin and is looking to master the art of bowling the carrom-ball in crunch match situations. Before the match against RCB, Delhi Capitals was given a big blow as spinner Amit Mishra was ruled out of the tournament due to a finger injury.

In place of Mishra, Axar Patel was given a chance against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), and the spinner returned with the figures of 2-18 from his four overs as Delhi Capitals defeated the Virat Kohli-led side by 59 runs. Axar took the wickets of Aaron Finch and Moeen Ali. "It was a bit easy for the left-arm bowlers as one side of the ground was big when the left-handers were batting, I was able to bowl it slow and mix it up. In the powerplay, when we were batting, our batters told me that the ball is stopping a bit. When I came into bowl in the powerplay, my second ball turned a bit so I thought let's be attacking, I was able to vary the pace as the wicket was offering something for me," Axar Patel told Ashwin in a video posted on iplt20.com.

"I took inspiration from you (Ashwin), I am also trying to bowl carrom balls, I thought of stopping a bit and then delivering the ball, it gave me time to see as to what Finch was doing, the ball spun a bit and as a result, I was able to dismiss him. When I get hit for two-three sixes, I can look to bowl the carrom ball as the batsmen will be thinking that I would bowl a quicker one," he added. Axar Patel has been consistent with the ball in hand this year. The spinner was dropped for the side's last game against Kolkata Knight Riders, but he said that he did not mind the decision as it was taken for all the right reasons.

"I was prepared to be dropped, coach Ricky Ponting had come to me first and he explained to me the reasons for leaving me out, the reasons were valid for me sitting out against KKR, I just wanted the team to win," Patel said. RCB failed to chase down 196 runs and was restricted to 137/9. No batsmen got going for RCB and only Virat Kohli got among the runs as he played a knock of 43. AB de Villiers had an off day with the bat in hand as he just managed to score nine runs. He was sent back to the pavilion by Anrich Nortje. For Delhi, Kagiso Rabada was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with the figures of 4-24.

Delhi has gone to the top of the table with four victories and eight points from five matches. Delhi Capitals had registered a total of 196/4 as Prithvi Shaw and Marcus Stoinis played knocks of 42 and 53 respectively. Stoinis had come to the crease with Delhi at 90/3 in the 12th over and it was then that the Australian all-rounder went on to play a knock of 53 from just 26 balls with the help of six fours and two sixes. (ANI)

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