It’s said that catches win matches. At the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, St Lucia, on Monday, India’s victory over Australia in their Super Eight match likely came down to a single catch. This allowed India to advance to the T20 World Cup semifinals for the second consecutive year. Meanwhile, people are starting to discuss the success of Axar Patel.
Australia did suffer an early setback in the formidable chase of 206, with the semifinal position up for grabs, when David Warner left the game after just six runs in the first over. However, the Australians responded magnificently, as skipper Mitchell Marsh skillfully helped Travis Head to arrange an 81-run partnership in only 48 balls, giving them the ideal foundation on which to build as they pursued the huge score.
But it was one magical moment—Axar Patel’s one-handed stunner to eliminate Marsh—that altered the entire outcome of the match. The right-hander rocked back to pull a length ball from Kuldeep Yadav behind square in the last ball of the ninth over. Axar, positioned at deep mid-wicket, “perfectly timed” his jump to snag a hand, as explained by former India head coach Ravi Shastri on-air, and it stuck, even though it appeared headed for another boundary for Australia. Furthermore, it was his non-dominant right hand. Marsh has been dismissed twice by India, and it required a stunning move to do so.
AXAR PATEL – YOU BEAUTY…!!! 🤯pic.twitter.com/XtOPbtrKqj
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 24, 2024
Was India’s catch the turning point in the game?
After the game, former India cricketer Virender Sehwag told Cricbuzz that if Axar hadn’t made that catch, the ball would have gone for a six and Australia would have won.
There, it was a “do or die” circumstance. India would have lost the match if he hadn’t timed his hump, which would have struck his hand and bounced over the rope for a six. Thus, it was a fantastic catch. He stated, “He timed his jump precisely and exercised enough common sense to avoid touching the boundary rope after that.
In the second half of the chase, Arshdeep Singh claimed three wickets and Kuldeep took another, restricting the 2021 champions to 181 for seven. It remained Australia’s lone significant partnership of the game.
With the victory, India advanced to the semifinals as the top-seeded team in Group 1 and will play England in Guyana on June 27. Australia’s fate will be determined by the outcome of the final Super Eight match between Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
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