Axar Patel: How the Nadiad boy who loved potato daablas by the canal became India’s Champions Trophy hero

Every Axar Patel anecdote in the city that raised him begins with the same question: “Have you seen the canal?”

It’s hard to miss the winding channel that runs through the centre of Nadiad, lending the dusty, arid place a soothing touch.

Right on its edge, on a tree-laden dirt road, Bharat bhai regales you with heartwarming stories of the ‘normal person, who has no airs about himself’ over kadak cha and lasaniya daabla. The hard-on-heart snack — deep-fried potatoes with garlic-based spicy stuffing in chickpea flour, a local bhajiya delicacy — would fuel a young Axar’s mornings.

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“He’d sit there…” says the modest roadside stall owner, pointing at the concrete parapet along the canal, “…and have his meal with tea — less water, ginger, a little sugar and some cardamom. For the 15-20 years that he’s been coming here, he’s had his tea made the same way.”

The rest of the day would be spent at the cricket ground — located inside his college campus — less than 500m from here. By evening, Axar would be back at the canal, pouring Thums Up in a glass and emptying a packet of sing bhujia in it.

“He survived on that,” laughs Keval Patel, Axar’s childhood friend; still unable to wrap his head around one of India’s fittest cricketer’s eating habits.

“Even today,” says Keval, “when he returns home, you can spot Axar at the canal, relaxing with his friends over endless cups of tea. To the world, he might be ‘Axar’. For us, he is still the same, old ‘Akshar’.”

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What’s in a name, you ask? The man’s complete identity.

‘Akshar’ remains a simpleton at home, a large-hearted friend and a ruthless prankster who binges on ‘padikas’ (tiny snack packets) and home-made bhaakri dipped in ginger tea. On the cricket field, ‘Axar’ — the spelling change thanks to an administrative error at school — devours wickets and feeds on big hits.

Bharat bhai, the owner of the tea shop where Axar has been coming since a teenager, calls the all-rounder a ‘humble’ person with ‘no airs about himself’. (Mihir Vasavda) Bharat bhai, the owner of the tea shop where Axar has been coming since a teenager, calls the all-rounder a ‘humble’ person with ‘no airs about himself’. (Mihir Vasavda)

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Like the T20 World Cup last year, throughout India’s Champions Trophy campaign, Axar had an out-sized impact on the outcomes in a typically understated manner, very much personifying his city.

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In some ways, if Nadiad defined Axar, Axar is now redefining Nadiad, bringing the forgotten town back into prominence.

Nadiad, in railway parlance, is a short two-minute stop between the country’s milk capital, Anand, and trading hub, Ahmedabad. In the history books, it’s a mere answer to trivia as the birthplace of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s birthplace. The ancient city continues to draw believers to its nearly 200-year-old temple and aspirants at many of its reputed education institutes. But on the 22-yards, it has always been dwarfed by Baroda and Saurashtra, places with proper cricketing heritage.

Engineering, not cricket, might have been Axar’s calling too if not for his father, Rajeshbhai, who sent him to the city’s only ground to improve his fitness — not in terms of losing weight, Axar in his childhood was slender than he is right now, but to gain muscle.

”We met for the first time at the ground,” says Keval. “As is the norm, for a couple of days, we were made to run laps. Axar got bored and began bunking. He’d leave home wearing whites but go to another place to play tennis-ball cricket.”

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One morning, Rajeshbhai swung by at the ground only to be surprised by his son. “Proper padi hati (he had it properly),” Keval says in Gujarati. “After that, he never bunked practice.”

Axar didn’t have to. He completely immersed himself in his new routine, not knowing that the 2km stretch from the canal to his home, with the cricket ground and his college on the way, would shape his life.

It’s where he would learn his craft, continue to shine academically, make lifelong friendships, meet his childhood sweetheart whom he’d eventually marry and build a new home that, unsurprisingly, is a short walk from the canal.

Kheda District Cricket Association ground, where Axar’s journey began. (Mihir Vasavda) Kheda District Cricket Association ground, where Axar’s journey began. (Mihir Vasavda)

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The wider cricketing world might have woken up to his batting exploits at No. 5 only now after Gautam Gambhir promoted him to experiment with left-right combinations, strengthen the batting depth and provide the captain with more bowling options.

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But those who have watched him grow since his childhood are hardly surprised. For, he has always played in that position — and rarely failed.

“Axar bowled pace in school competitions,” says Amrish Patel, Axar’s childhood coach. “He had long strides because of his height but didn’t have enough leg strength and would sometimes fall over while releasing the ball. When he would get tired, he’d switch to spin. That’s when he would take wickets.”

Over the years, they moulded him into a spin-bowling all-rounder but in his mind, Axar was never in doubt that batting remained his predominant craft.

“He enjoyed playing lofted shots,” says former Gujarat Ranji Trophy player and selector Bharat Mistry. “Once, during the Under-16 West Zone tournaments, he was dismissed while attempting those shots in successive matches, wasting his good starts. Some selectors wanted to drop him as a punishment for his reckless shots. But a couple of us backed him, advised him to be more judicious with his shot selection.”

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He was retained for the final match against Saurashtra in Rajkot. “And he scored a century there,” adds Keval. “Since then, he has never looked back. Bowling was something he was always confident of doing well. But contributions with the bat have given him more pleasure.”

Around four years ago, during the phase when he wasn’t getting consistent game time, Axar returned to the ground where he began his journey, and spent ‘three-to-four hours’ every afternoon polishing his game.

”For the first half hour or so, he’d only block,” says Gujarat’s Ranji Trophy player Vishal Jayswal, who, like Axar, bats left-handed and bowls left-arm spin. “After that, he would unshackle himself. He’d hit really long… every day, we lost 2-3 balls and by the end of the session, we’d be completely knackered.”

During those sessions, he rediscovered his love for his ‘favourite’ shot: the slog sweep. “He always loved to play that but had reduced it a lot in the last few years,” says Keval.

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Until it resurfaced again. Once famously during the T20 World Cup final against South Africa last year, and then against New Zealand earlier in the Champions Trophy. Unshackling himself with a slog-sweep off Mitchel Santner and propelling India to a match-winning total.

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Axar refused a roadshow after last year’s T20 World Cup win. Instead he chose to interact with academy trainees. (Special Arrangement) Axar refused a roadshow after last year’s T20 World Cup win. Instead he chose to interact with academy trainees. (Special Arrangement)

Manish Desai, the president of the Kheda District Cricket Association, gauges success not only by the trophies and individual awards Axar keeps piling up but also by the transformational impact he has had on the game in Nadiad.

After he first played in the Indian Premier League, there was an elaborate roadshow where thousands lined up to welcome Axar. A similar procession was planned following India’s T20 World Cup title this year. When Axar learnt about it, he delayed his homecoming and returned only on one condition. “He didn’t want any functions,” Desai says. “He requested me to gather all the academy boys and girls at the ground and have an intimate session with them. He not only shared his life experiences with them but also told stories behind the World Cup win.”

Desai says that from ‘70-80 boys’ a decade ago, between 250 and 300 young players train at their ground daily, ‘aspiring to be like Axar’. That number, he adds, will increase during the summer vacation camps.

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But while boys were always drawn to the sport, Desai says Axar’s success has inspired many families in Nadiad to send their daughters to the ground.

Ami Patel, who started playing just two years ago, says there used to be just one-odd girl who’d play along with ‘hundreds of boys’ earlier. “But after seeing Axar making a successful career in cricket, more girls have come forward. In last year’s summer camp, there were 40 girls!” Ami, 25, says.

She was one of the players sitting in the audience last year when Axar relived the T20 World Cup title-winning campaign with them, hanging onto every word he spoke. By the end of the session, Axar’s ‘simplicity’ left her amazed.

“Whenever he is in Nadiad, he doesn’t give a vibe that he is such a big cricketer. He behaves like one of us, almost like saying ‘This is my ground, my people, my Nadiad. I’ll play, relax and just be myself.’”

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