Axar Patel was ignored for South Africa game.
Among many bizarre decisions India took at the T20 World Cup 2026, dropping Axar Patel for the South Africa fixture in Super 8 proved most disastrous. Initially, he was rested for the Netherlands clash, which allowed Washington Sundar some game time, but the vice-captain didn’t return against the Proteas either.
The move obviously didn’t work out, and the Men in Blue suffered an eye-opening defeat in Ahmedabad after surviving numerous scares earlier in the tournament. From then on, Axar featured in every game and went on to make match-winning contributions in all three departments.
In an interview with The Indian Express, India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav revealed that the premium all-rounder was animated with his omission and didn’t take it sportingly. Hence, the skipper apologised and had hard conversations with Axar Patel after the game.
“He (Axar) was very angry — and he should have been. He’s an experienced player, he leads a franchise. He should be angry. I apologised. I told him I made a mistake and I’m sorry, but it was a call for the team. It was a hard conversation. He took it in his stride and we talked it through the next day.”
Axar Patel took 11 wickets at an average of 18.63 and a strike rate of 13.63 in seven innings, with a best of 3/27. As a batter, he was underutilised, facing only 15 deliveries throughout the tournament, despite India having several chances to use him.
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His fielding stood out: the all-rounder took four catches and one effort on the ropes so instrumental that the wicket should have been added to his tally. Both came against England in the semifinal – Axar Patel ran back and covered a big distance to grab Harry Brook’s catch before a relay catch on the left of deep point, with the help of Shivam Dube, ended Will Jacks’ knock.
Overall, he excelled in every opportunity, finding ways to contribute in every possible way. Keeping him out of the South Africa game was a massive error, even if India’s logic saw three LHBs in the opponent’s camp.
Sundar is not as good as Axar Patel in any department in T20s and should have been benched once the Super 8 stage started. That defeat against South Africa came at the right time for India, as it helped them assess the team combination and tighten the screws going into the crunch situation of the tournament.
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