Patel Included In Touring Squad
The left arm spinner Akshar Patel who performed brilliantly for Kings XI Punjab in this year’s Indian Premier League has been rewarded by the Indian selectors as he has been included in the squad for the tour of Bangladesh.
Patel is one of the three specialist spinners in the side. Amit Mishra and Parvez Rasool are the other ones.
Almost all the bowlers including the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel were taken to the cleaners at some point of time in IPL 7, but, young Patel didn’t give the batsmen opportunity to dominate him in any match.
Patel has a slightly deceptive sort of action. He is a tall man and bowls round arm. Also, rarely does he turn the ball. He likes to push the ball through and his deliveries generally come in for the right handers.
Patel has got a bit of talent with the bat too. He played a couple of very good innings for Kings XI Punjab during the course of IPL. One of those innings, in fact, was the match winning one and he got the man of the match award for that.
However, despite the success that he has achieved in the IPL, it’s important for Patel to put up a couple of good performances against Bangladesh. Otherwise, he would find himself out of contention for the England tour.
There is every possibility that Patel would be included in the playing XI by the stand in Captain Suresh Raina in the first couple of matches in Bangladesh. He will have to make sure that he doesn’t waste the opportunity.
Patel has played 8 first class matches in his career so far in which he has taken 29 wickets at a brilliant average of 24.