The manner in which 20-year-old Akshar Patel batted on Monday to guide West Zone into the Deodhar Trophy final will make top-order batsmen proud. He did not play like a bowler who could also bat, but one who could make the side purely as a batsman.
Patel showed a lot of these qualities in the brief instances that he batted for India against Sri Lanka in the ODI series recently. Remember his sixes off the first two balls against Dhammika Prasad in the final over of the Cuttack ODI? Yes, this lad can bat too.
In fact, Patel says he started playing cricket as an opening batsman and was converted into a bowler by the National Cricket Academy (NCA) coaches in Bangalore, where he went as an Under-19 player.
"Everyone calls me a bowling all-rounder. But I am one who can bat well. I don't have to say that. My bat will do the talking. When I took to cricket, it was as a batsman," Patel said here on Monday.
"Then at NCA, the coaches changed me into a bowler. They said that I will be in bowling group as the batting group was full. I said I wanted to be in the batting group. That changed my career and I started to concentrate more on bowling. Of course, the change is helping me. I'm doing well in both batting and bowling," he said.
Patel has made people sit up and take notice in his short stint with the Indian team. Eleven wickets in the five ODIs against Sri Lanka and a tally of 14 sticks in nine games since his debut in Bangladesh earlier this year is not a bad start to his international career.
He admitted that he still needed to work on his bowling. "I'm happy with my bowling. And doing well with bat also. But I need to work on a couple of areas, the arm ball and the need to spin the ball more. Even in batting, if I can be stronger square off the wicket and perfect my drives, it will help me and the team," Patel, who has batted in the top-order in the U-16 level, said.
Playing for India has only helped Patel grow in confidence. "Getting selected against Sri Lanka was very big for me. I did well with the ball and bat. Captain Virat Kohli also spoke high of me. When you play for India, the confidence level goes up and they come in handy in matches like these. I can handle pressure well," he said.
With his recent international performances, one would expect Patel to be a certainty for the World Cup. At least, he has not made it easy for the selectors. But Patel is not thinking about the World Cup. "Of course, I am in the World Cup radar. But I'm not thinking about it. World Cup will be at the back of my mind but I am taking it match by match," said the Gujarat player.
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