Asia Cup 2023: Axar Patel’s bowling isn’t at par with Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, says Salman Butt

Former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt reckons Axar Patel’s bowling isn’t at par with Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. Patel could not bowl in the right areas in the Super Fours stage match against Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Tuesday.

On a spin-friendly pitch, Patel could not get much purchase and failed to make an impact. In fact, all the 10 Indian wickets were picked up by Sri Lankan spinners and it happened for the first time for India in an ODI when all of their wickets were taken by the opposition’s spinners.

While Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav scalped two and four wickets respectively, Patel went wicketless in his spell of five overs and conceded 29 runs.

“When you see Axar Patel’s bowling, he is not on par with Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. No doubt his batting is quite good, but if he didn’t get any turn on this wicket, where will it spin? There was so much turn on offer that even Asalanka picked up four wickets. However, Axar didn’t get any turn, which is a matter of concern,” said Butt on his YouTube Channel.

On the other hand, Butt showered praise on Indian skipper Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. Rohit was able to make the most of his experience in crunch situations and he was spot-on with his field placements and bowling changes.

“Rohit Sharma’s captaincy was brilliant. He set wicket-taking field placements, which was very important. Sharma was very courageous and even had the mid-on and mid-off inside the circle,” Butt added.

Meanwhile, India confirmed their Asia Cup final berth after winning against Sri Lanka by 41 runs. Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, and Kuldeep Yadav were the key performers for the Men in Blue.

India will take on Bangladesh on Friday whereas they will face either Pakistan or Sri Lanka in the summit clash of the continental tournament at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Sunday.