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Forced to sit out of the ODI World Cup with an injury, Axar Patel said he is pinning his hopes on the IPL 2024 to rekindle his chances of getting a berth in the India squad for the T20 showpiece in June.
The left-arm spinner gave a good account of himself in the first T20I against Afghanistan in Mohali Thursday, taking two wickets while conceding 23 runs in four overs.
"My job is to give 100 percent to my work ethics and the process. I am not worrying too much about what will happen to the World Cup team selection, and if I do that, I will be putting pressure on myself. Right now, I want to focus on the IPL and then we also have a Test series against England coming up soon," Axar said in the post-match press conference.
India have just two more T20Is scheduled ahead of the World Cup to be held in the West Indies and the USA, and Axar was aware that there will be too many contenders jostling for an India berth.
"Yeah, we are going to play the last two T20Is before the World Cup, and then we have the IPL. I know there is a lot of competition out there (for a WC spot in India team), but my competition is to myself and I just want to focus on adding to my skill sets," he added.
Fine-tuning his skills had begun during his recovery time at the NCA.
"It was unfortunate that I got injured during the World Cup and missed it. But I took it positively and tried to improve my game. I was working during my time at the NCA – things like line and length, slower ball and such variations. I was trying to add something more to my bowling as a left-arm spinner, as we don't have that many variations like a leg-spinner such as googly. But I was looking to add those 5 or 10 percent to my bowling," said Axar.
The 29-year-old was also delighted to see his efforts at the NCA paying off in the series against Australia and in the first game against the Afghans.
"I was not trying to be overtly aggressive on this (Mohali) pitch and batsmen took some chances against me and that also worked for me. I was trying to mix my deliveries up like slower balls etc. It worked for me in the series against Australia as well and I have carried that confidence into this series. I am looking at putting more pressure on the batsmen," said the Gujarat bowler.