Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has named Axar Patel as one of the most underutilized players in the recently concluded Indian Premier League 2023. Axar claimed 11 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 7.19 in the 14 matches he played for the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023 as well. With 283 runs to his name, he was Delhi’s second-highest run-scorer despite batting low in the order as well.
On the ‘AakashVani’ show on JioCinema, Chopra said: “The first player who comes to my mind, although he still performed well, his name used to be there in the most valuable players’ list. Imagine if this player had been in MS Dhoni’s team, he might have been this tournament’s best player, his name is Axar Patel. He was not getting to bat.”
Aakash Chopra slammed the Delhi Capitals for failing to extract the best from him despite having a huge think-tank. Chopra stated that Shane Watson even shared that Axar Patel should be sent up the order but he also pointed out that it was not his call as well. He also added that Axar himself expressed his desire to bat up the order but it was not his decision too as well.
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“You wonder who was taking the decisions. You have David Warner as the captain of your team, and outside you had Ricky Ponting, Sourav Ganguly, Shane Watson, James Hopes, Ajit Agarkar and Pravin Amre. You couldn’t figure out how to get the best out of this player despite having such a large think-tank,” Aakash Chopra revealed.
Aakash Chopra also questioned the Punjab Kings’ utilization of pace spearhead Arshdeep Singh. He also shared that the left-arm seamer was not used properly both in the powerplay and at the death overs as well. Arshdeep scalped 17 wickets in 14 matches but conceded an average of 9.69 runs per over as well.
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“The second player who comes to my mind is Arshdeep Singh. He is a player who has played a World Cup. When the Mumbai match happened, where he picked up four wickets in the end, he was No. 1 in the Purple Cap list, which means for half the season he was right up there. So no one can say he wasn’t bowling well. After that, you didn’t get him to bowl with the new ball at all. If you gave the 5th or 6th over to Arshdeep Singh, it means you halved his stature. Then he had overs left at the death, but you were getting Harpreet Brar to bowl. He could have potentially taken you to the playoffs but you didn’t utilize him at all,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
