"He would've been extremely disappointed after seeing Rohit Sharma's knock" - Ajay Jadeja on Axar Patel's untimely dismissal
Ajay Jadeja believes Axar Patel would have been extremely disappointed with the timing of his dismissal after seeing Rohit Sharma's blazing knock in the second ODI against Bangladesh in Mirpur on Wednesday, December 7.
Axar scored a run-a-ball 56 and was dismissed when India needed 83 runs off 70 balls. Rohit Sharma then smoked an unbeaten 51 off just 28 deliveries but could not take the Men in Blue across the finish line, as they lost the match by a narrow margin of five runs.
During a post-match discussion on Sony Sports, Jadeja was asked about his views on Axar's knock, to which he responded:
"He would've been slightly disappointed with himself that once his partner (Shreyas Iyer) had been dismissed, he could have spent a little more time. He would've been extremely disappointed after seeing Rohit Sharma's knock."
However, the former Indian skipper acknowledged that the spin-bowling all-rounder wouldn't have known at the time that Rohit would come and play such an explosive knock. He stated:
"He might be saying that he could have stood in the middle today. When he was playing, he wouldn't have known that Rohit Sharma will come and he was taking everything on himself. The game was far away when he went back in a haste."
Rohit only had Mohammed Siraj and Umran Malik for company when Deepak Chahar was dismissed off the first ball of the 46th over. Siraj failed to rotate the strike and played out a maiden in the 48th over bowled by Mustafizur Rahman, which turned out to be the decisive moment of the game.
"You have to agree that Axar Patel brought positivity to the partnership" - Ajay Jadeja
Jadeja lauded Axar for playing the aggressor's role in the initial stages of his partnership with Shreyas Iyer, elaborating:
"You have to agree that Axar Patel brought positivity to the partnership at the start. Shreyas Iyer supported him, he was playing from earlier. But he is primarily in the team for his bowling, not much positive was seen there but the batting was totally positive, there is no doubt about that."
The cricketer-turned-commentator added that neither batter can be blamed for their dismissal modes. He observed:
"The freedom was seen, the aggressiveness that we hear about, that was seen throughout in this partnership. That is why the way both of them got out, you don't mind it. You have adopted a way of playing, you will have wins and losses, and good and bad days."
Shreyas was caught at deep midwicket while trying to hit a maximum off Mehidy Hasan Miraz's bowling. Axar Patel danced down the track and hit Ebadot Hossain straight to Shakib Al Hasan at extra cover a few overs later.