When you do well in pressure situations, you get some confidence: Axar Patel

Axar Patel was promoted to bat at number four in the T20 World Cup 2024 final against South Africa and the southpaw played a crucial knock of 47 runs off 31 deliveries. He bailed the team out of danger but that didn’t cement his spot in the top order. Against Sri Lanka in the first T20I, the all-rounder was back batting at number eight but that didn’t impact his performance as he played a quick knock of 10* runs off five deliveries, helping India post 213 runs on the board.

Speaking about his overall development as a player, Axar noted that batting in pressure situations has developed his game. He talked about gaining confidence from it and it resonates in his game. Apart from scoring 10* runs, Axar also picked up two crucial wickets of Kusal Perera and Pathum Nissanka, who were looking dangerous in Pallekele. The all-rounder wants to continue with the same momentum and also talked about his learnings from playing in pressure situations.

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“When you continuously play cricket for India and when you do well in pressure situations, you get some confidence. And each time you get confidence, you always learn from it. It's not that you'll always do well in pressure situations and you might fail as well. But those situations teach you that I could have done things differently and that has taught me a lot in the last year especially,” Axar was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

“So when I do well in those situations, my confidence grows and when such situations arise again, I don't get bogged down nor do I think 'oh I need to do this, I need to do that.' I focus a lot more on my strengths and I think that is really helping me. When you keep doing well, your confidence keeps building. One month ago, I did well in the World Cup and I'm carrying that confidence too which is reaping its benefits”, he continued.

Chasing 214 runs, Sri Lanka started well in the second innings. Nissanka and Kusal Mendis stitched a partnership of 84 runs and it looked like the hosts could get the job done but the Indian bowlers staged a phenomenal comeback, securing a 43-run win. With that, the Men in Blue took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.