47 Off 31: Axar Patel's Innings in the 2024 T20 World Cup Final

Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bat in the final against South Africa at Kensington Oval in Barbados on 29 June 2024. Inside five overs the plan was in trouble. Rohit, Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav were all out, and India were 34 for 3.

A promotion that worked

India sent Axar in at No. 5 to give them a left-hander against South Africa's spinners. Virat Kohli was holding one end together carefully, so the job of scoring quickly fell to Axar.

He did it with real authority. He took on the spinners, hitting sixes off Aiden Markram, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi, and cleared the ropes against Kagiso Rabada too. His 47 came off 31 balls with one four and four sixes, and his stand with Kohli was worth 72.

The run-out

The partnership ended in the 14th over. A ball from Rabada deflected off Kohli toward Quinton de Kock. Axar set off for a single, turned back, and de Kock hit the stumps at the non-striker's end with a direct throw. India were 106 for 4.

Kohli went on to 76 and Shivam Dube added quick runs at the end. India's 176 for 7 was the highest total in a men's T20 World Cup final. Heinrich Klaasen's 52 off 27 balls swung the chase South Africa's way, but India's bowlers pulled it back, and India won by seven runs.

Why it mattered

Kohli was Player of the Match, and deservedly so. But at 34 for 3 in a World Cup final, India needed someone to take the game on, and Axar did it. Two days earlier he had also been Player of the Match in the semi-final against England, with three wickets. Few innings explain better why India value him as a genuine all-rounder rather than a bowler who bats a bit.