Harare, Aug 23: It is a “little tough” to cool his heels after a couple of games but Axar Patel wants to put his best foot forward in his bid to use every opportunity that comes along his way.
A like-for-like replacement of Ravindra Jadeja, the left-arm spinner and useful lower-middle-order batter is still not an India regular although he he has 50 plus wickets in ODIs since 2014.
“It is a little tough when you play two matches and suddenly you’ve to sit out,” Axar said at the post-match press conference after India’s 13-run win over Zimbabwe in the third ODI.
“And then again you play two or three matches. It’s tough but I back myself and train my mind to think that this is the opportunity for you to do well,” he added.
In a bid to strengthen its bench for the future and regulate the workload of its top players, the Indian team management, which has an abundance of talent at its disposal, keeps rotating cricketers.
Axar feels in such a situation it is good to keep a positive mindset and treat every game as an opportunity.
“If I do well here, I’ll get to play the next game. I can also play with the (cribbing) mindset that I get dropped after getting a couple of opportunities but I take it in a positive way that I’m getting an opportunity to perform for India. If I do well, I’ll improve myself. So it’s on you how you take it.” (PTI)
