Axar Patel was back to his threatening best vs Afghanistan [Source: AFP]Axar Patel is not a fancy bowler. He doesn’t have too many tricks in his box, nor does he try to do too much with the ball. He doesn’t even spin it excessively and often relies on a flatter trajectory.What he banks on is accuracy in lines and lengths, complemented by subtle variations and late adjustments. And that combination works for him almost every time, at least when the pitches aren’t completely flat. Unsurprisingly, Axar regained his ruthlessness against Afghanistan in New Delhi.Axar Patel bounces back against AfghanistanAxar Patel's length distribution in the powerplayAxar’s overall figures in the Afghanistan series could be deceiving. Four wickets at 16 apiece and an economy rate of 5.81 are impressive numbers, but he bowled even better than they suggest. At least four wicket-taking opportunities went begging, while he induced 40.91% false shots, the second-most among spinners who played at least two matches in the series.One way to gauge whether Axar is in rhythm is to look at how he bowls early in the innings, particularly in the powerplay. He started brilliantly against Afghanistan, delivering two economical overs in the very first game and dismissing Gulbadin Naib in the process. From there, the pattern remained largely the same: Axar’s immaculate lengths kept unsettling Afghanistan’s batters, who tried different options without much success.Rahmanullah Gurbaz, for instance, tried to sweep with the turn, only for the ball to hold its line, skid off the surface and sneak under his bat to crash into the stumps. Four balls later, Sediqullah Atal made a similar mistake, going for a wild slog sweep across the line.More broadly, Afghanistan’s batters were not competent enough with their footwork to push Axar out of his comfort lengths. In the powerplay, he bowled 73.91% of his deliveries in his usual 4-6 metre range against Afghanistan, compared to just 41.66% against England. That was largely because Afghanistan kept playing him from the front foot instead of using the crease or going back to create depth.Also Read: The Thinking Behind Dhruv Jurel’s Selection And The Race For A World Cup 2027 SlotIn Nottingham, Jos Buttler waited for a slot ball and powered Axar down the ground with the second delivery of the spell. That immediately forced Axar to shorten his lengths, allowing Buttler to deliberately sit back and take seven more runs from the set.England played only 25% of Axar’s powerplay deliveries from the front foot, compared to 54.17% by Afghanistan. With England consistently getting back and using the crease, Axar could not settle into his preferred lengths. Afghanistan, on the other hand, simply could not put him under enough pressure.Once Axar Patel found going early in the innings, he simply became unplayable for Afghanistan. England ensured not to let him settle, so the spinner could never find his lengths and was always under pressure.Axar thrives in favourable conditionsPart of the problem for Afghanistan was the conditions in New Delhi. They could certainly have been more proactive with their approach, but the pitches also made it difficult to force Axar Patel out of his lengths. There was some grip throughout the series, particularly in the final two matches, with the surface holding up on occasion.Take Azmatullah Omarzai’s dismissal in the second T20I, for instance. Axar bowled a fullish delivery on the stumps that gripped into the surface before moving away slightly. Omarzai could only get the toe end of the bat on it, offering a simple catch at midwicket.FanCode @FanCode 𝓑𝓪𝓱𝓾 𝓢𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓼 🔥 Stream the Afghanistan vs India T20I series LIVE only on FanCode 📲 #AFGvIND Sep 17, 2026, 9:56 PM Compare that with Harry Brook against England. In Bristol and Southampton, he repeatedly played similar lengths by making room and targeting the cover and extra-cover regions with aerial lofts. At one stage in Southampton, Brook made room to drive a good-length ball over wide long-off before using his feet and getting down the track to hit almost the same length over the bowler for two consecutive sixes. The ball simply did not grip or turn enough to force him into a mishit or prevent him from finding the areas he wanted.Axar undercuts the ball with a round-arm action, getting the leather to land firmly on the surface. That allows it to retain its zip after pitching rather than losing pace, with the ball skidding through rapidly with the angle on slower surfaces. When there is also some grip, mishits like those from Naib and Omarzai become much more likely.That made hitting Axar far more difficult in New Delhi, and he could hardly have asked for a better set of pitches after an otherwise difficult England tour. His experience of playing for Delhi Capitals (DC) in the IPL also worked in his favour, allowing him to read the surface quickly. Afghanistan’s inability to replicate the kind of strokeplay Brook and the English batters produced only strengthened that advantage.Why Axar needs to keep working on his bowling skills% powerplay overs bowled in T20IsAxar Patel has regained his rhythm in favourable conditions, but India will still have reservations around him. On unfavourable decks, England’s superior batting attack put him under pressure, and he ran out of options very quickly. That changed the dynamics altogether.On the UK tour, Axar bowled only two overs across six innings in the powerplay, and against England, Shreyas Iyer was forced to take him out of the attack almost immediately. Overall, India could use only four overs of spin in the powerplay across Ireland and England, which collectively went for nine runs per over and fetched a solitary wicket.That is a concern because Axar is India’s premium powerplay spinner, with 18.37% of his total overs this year coming during the field restrictions. With Varun Chakaravarthy’s injury and form issues, India have been hesitant to use him with little boundary protection. His share of powerplay overs has fallen from 20.89% in 2025 to just 12.96% in 2026. Under Iyer’s captaincy, he has yet to bowl in the powerplay.Ravi Bishnoi has length-control issues and cannot always be trusted on decks that are not skiddy and low in bounce. Kuldeep Yadav, meanwhile, has fallen off the radar after showing no real improvement. That leaves Axar as India’s only reliable powerplay option, and what he did in England will not give the management enough confidence when they travel outside Asia again.FanCode @FanCode “Aye bapu taari bowling kamal che” 🔥 Stream the Afghanistan vs India T20I series LIVE only on FanCode 📲 #AFGvIND Sep 13, 2026, 8:16 PM In that case, Axar needs to keep upgrading himself and work more on varying his pace and occasionally deliver other variations than his stock deliveries. He should also rip his fingers over the seam to impart more overspin, which would help him get some bounce on surfaces that don’t naturally stay low, particularly because his release point is already high. He has tried a bit more overspin lately, but needs greater control over it.The next T20 World Cup is in Australia, where he will not get pitches anything like those offered in New Delhi this week. Axar has the bowling smarts to adapt; he understands how to vary his length and create a different angle from wide of the crease on non-flat pitches. In Australia, he did trouble the likes of Matthew Short and Josh Inglis with his variations and cramped lines last year.It is just that Axar, like every Indian spinner, has played so much cricket in Asian conditions over the last year or so that quick adjustments and the ability to evolve in alien conditions have not always come naturally or early enough. India cannot afford Axar to follow the same path further. He remains their best bet in the spin department and needs to do the tough part with the ball. Their spin stocks are already at an all-time low.The UK tour was an eye-opener for India on multiple fronts. Several players have already started making subtle adjustments and giving themselves more options after what was a valuable learning curve. India will hope that Axar Patel follows suit when conditions demand it in the upcoming assignments.Also Read: Yuvraj Singh Breaks Silence On Abhishek Sharma Slamming Fastest 100 In T20Is
