"If there was ever a weakness in his game, it was the short ball" - Ricky Ponting on Axar Patel

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting revealed that Axar Patel’s only weakness with the bat was the short ball directed at his body. However, the 47-year-old highlighted that the all-rounder was a fast learner and was able to rectify his shortcomings rapidly.

Axar’s rise has been one of the significant gains for the Indian team in the past few months. The 29-year-old was India’s second-highest run-getter in the recently-concluded four-Test series against Australia, hitting 264 runs with three vital half-centuries. The left-hander’s batting had also peaked in the limited-overs format in the past few months.

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Speaking on an episode of the ICC Review, Ponting recalled that Axar was too blocked on the off-side and couldn’t score on the leg side; hence, they tweaked his technique slightly. The Tasmanian recalled how that change started bringing results instantly.

He said:

“If there was ever a weakness in his game, it was the short ball that was sort of directed at his body. The reason that he was a bit weak in that area was he was too side-on, and the ball was always sort of in behind his right shoulder. We just tried to open him up a little bit, which gave him a little bit more access to the ball. He's always been a beautiful offside player."

He added:

"You know, his cover driving and cutting is as good as anyone's. And if anything, he was just a little bit too blocked off to be able to score well on the leg side. We tweaked a few things there and because he's such a good young person to work with, and he's obviously very talented, so therefore he was a fast learner and was able to pick things up really quickly and change his technique enough to show really, really good improvement really early on.”

The Gujarat-born all-rounder averages a mediocre 19 with the bat in 122 IPL matches with a strike rate of 128.83. However, it’s likely to improve in the 2023 edition, given his rising batting capabilities.

“I've known Axar for a long time” – Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting recalled spotting Axar Patel during his tenure as Mumbai Indians’ coach and how he always had it in him to thrive as a batter. The World Cup-winning skipper stated:

“I've known Axar for a long time and he was only a young boy in the squad at Mumbai when I first went there. I've known that there's been a certain amount of batting skill there that really, apart from the last couple of years, he hadn't really been showing at IPL level or even at international level."

"There were a few little technique changes that we made with him. We just opened up his hips and his shoulders a little bit. So he was a bit more chest-on towards the right-arm fast bowlers.“

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After the ODI series against Australia, the 29-year-old will feature in IPL 2023 for the Delhi Capitals, who have retained him for the 16th edition of the tournament.