Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar feels that Akshar Patel has made most of the opportunities that came his way and made it difficult for Ravindra Jadeja to come back into the team.
Ravindra Jadeja while playing the third Test match of the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy suffered a thumb injury following which he was ruled out of the fourth Test match against Australia and then later was ruled out of the Test series against England.
However in his absence Akshar Patel was drafted into the Indian side. His rise in Test cricket has been exceptional.
Debuting for Team India in the second Test match against England at Chennai, the left-arm spinner had a memorable Test debut as he became the 9th Indian player to take a five-wicket haul on Test debut and returned with the match figures of 7/100.
IND v ENG 2021: Kept on carrying the confidence after memorable debut in Chennai, says Akshar Patel
In the third Test match, which was also a day and night affair, Patel set the stage on fire as he picked fifers in both innings of the Test match.
Patel finished the series with 27 wickets in three games, picking four five-wicket hauls in the series and also scored a valuable 43 runs in the fourth Test match at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
Addressing Akshar Patel’s rise in Test cricket, batting great Sunil Gavaskar said that the former has grabbed his opportunities well.
"Akshar Patel has grabbed his opportunities. He has taken 27 wickets, he has also shown that he can bat well and he is also a very good fielder, probably not as good as Ravindra Jadeja," Sunil Gavaskar said.
Gavaskar said that it would be difficult for Ravindra Jadeja to make it back into the team and added that it’s always good to see two played fighting for one place.
"It's not going to be easy for Ravindra Jadeja to break into the team because if you go by form, with him not having played much cricket, the Indian think tank might want to retain Akshar Patel. It's always good to have two players fighting for one place because that means that complacency will not set in," Gavaskar said.
(Hindustan Times Inputs)
