Axar Patel Breaks MS Dhoni’s old Record During 2nd ODI Against West Indies

The Indian squad knew that chasing 312 would be a difficult challenge after the batsmen from the West Indies gave a solid account of their power-hitting in the second one-day international that took place in Port of Spain.

But despite this, everyone anticipated that the tourists from India, with their young but excellent batting line-up, would put up a strong challenge to the home team.

Axar Patel Breaks MS Dhoni’s old Record During 2nd ODI Against West Indies

 

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The opening combination of Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill, who had stitched together a strong connection just a few of days before in the first game of the series, were the ones on whom all of the hopes were based.

Dhawan, who captained the team in the last encounter, was tentative and scored 13 runs off of 31 balls. He was successful in avoiding the opening powerplay but failed in the very next over. He was eliminated.

 

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Critical knocks by Gill, Shreyas Iyer, and Sanju Samson kept the touring party alive in the run chase. However, with five wickets down inside of 40 overs and one-third of runs still needed, the victory appeared remote as there was not much batting left because there was not much time remaining.

Axar Patel and Deepak Hooda were located in the middle of the field. Everyone believed that the former would take the initiative and score the majority of the goals, while Patel would play a supporting role.

Patel, in contrast to what most people anticipated, was the one who took the initiative to go on the attack and sent the bowlers from the Windies to all areas of the pitch during his unbroken assault.

The southpaw hammered an unbeaten 64 off 35 deliveries to complete the innings. He had a greater number of sixes than fours. His innings included a total of eight boundaries, including five smashes that went over the fence. These hits helped him win the match.

In the 50-over format, Patel shattered the record held by former India captain MS Dhoni for the past 17 years within this single knock. The 28-year-old batsman now holds the record for the most amount of maximums scored by a player batting at number seven or lower in an effective one-day international run chase, with five sixes.

In the very first year of his international career, Dhoni had already established himself as a master of the chase by hitting three sixes during a run chase against Zimbabwe in 2005. In 2011, former all-rounder Yusuf Pathan scored the same number of runs as Dhoni on two separate occasions, once against South Africa and once against Ireland.

Patel was recognised as the Most Valuable Player (Man of the Match) for his match-winning knock, which contributed to the Indian team’s victory in the series with one match left to play.

When Patel thought back to his blow, he stated, “I think this is a great one. It arrived at a key time, which ultimately contributed to the team winning the series. The same thing happened during the Indian Premier League. We only needed to hold our composure and maintain a high level of energy.

“I was playing a One-Day International after what felt like close to 5 years. Patel stated this desire during the post-match presentation. “I would love to continue doing this well for my team,” Patel remarked.

The supporters were ecstatic as well, as they showered India’s improbable hero with accolades after his performance with the bat. In spite of the enormous amount of pressure that he was under, the level of maturity and temperament that he displayed was flawless, and it left the supporters really impressed.

Since the series has already been won, the management team will use the third one-day international (ODI), which will be played on Wednesday (July 27) at the same location, as an opportunity to test out some of the other players in the squad.

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