Du Plessis to be checked by physios for availability against GT: Axar

New Delhi, Apr 17: Axar Patel, the Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper, said he is hoping vice-captain Faf du Plessis will be back for their next game against Gujarat Titans (GT) on Saturday, adding that the physio will inform him about his match fitness status.

Du Plessis has missed DC’s matches against Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals due to an unspecified injury, the nature of which has still not been made public. “Till now I was told that he can't play for three matches. He has been doing the recovery, so two matches are over. Maybe against Gujarat, he can play, but that too will have to be checked by physios as to how he is reacting to the injury,” said Axar in the post-match press conference.

Though Abishek Porel has fitted in well as an opener in du Plessis’ absence, once he’s fit, he could take the place of a struggling Jake Fraser-McGurk, who has made just 55 runs in six games at a strike rate of 105.76. Axar, though, said Fraser-McGurk will still get chances to come good in the future.

“My thinking is a little different. Like, if there is no start, and still, we are doing well, you have that cushion. When you don't get a start, and if you win, you have that cushion of going with the same team. Even I had the same thought – that box is not getting ticked. But he had made big runs at this venue and was having form on his side for us last year.”

“But he is such a player that if you give him a chance and he gets big runs, he will totally flip the match in your favour. I know that box is not getting ticked, but we keep talking to him – what he is thinking or not in practice. Yes, that thinking is going on. But when the team wins, you think about all these decisions.”

“Also, we have that cushion, and so we can give him a few more chances. Whoever I give a chance to, I will give him a decent run. As a player, he is a match winner, and I see how important he is for me. We will still think about it – what to do or what not to do. But for now, we have won. So we will enjoy a little,” he elaborated.

This is the first time Axar has been in a full-time leadership role in the IPL, and so far, the left-arm spin bowling all-rounder said he is enjoying being in the leadership role, where the main point is for him to back his decision-making skills.

“You do enjoy being a captain when I took this role. I was doing all this for state cricket, and I know what to do and what not to do. When you get the chance to run the team according to you, and if you get a chance to play the way you want to play cricket, then why let it go? So, I'm enjoying it on and off the field.”

“I'm doing what I'm thinking. It's not like you have to go with a template and do this. I'm doing what I think is right, and I'm backing myself. The experience is not so much that as I'm doing it for the first time.”

“So, it's not like I'm listening to others. Obviously, I listen, but I feel that when you have to make a decision, you back yourself. So, you'll know what you're doing wrong and what you're doing right. I make those decisions and enjoy it.”

Asked about how he reacts if certain leadership decisions don’t go the exact way, Axar added, “I don't know about the rest, but I believe that if you've made a mistake, there's no harm in admitting it. I'll say that you can't call it a mistake, as it's a tactical decision. If you're playing two lefties and you have to take out one over, what can you do? What resources do you have? You want to use that, and at that time, you think, Yes, I can use this.”

“But sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. So, I can't call it a mistake. You can say that your decision didn't work. When it works, you feel that you've made a good decision. So, it's both ways. You get credit, while you get something else in criticism. But it's okay, and that's how it is.”

Against RR, Axar finally arrived with the bat by slamming 34 off 14 balls, where his takedown of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana in the back end helped DC post 188/5, including hitting 77 runs in the last five overs. Axar admitted the idea of promoting himself as a batter is tempting but chooses to put the team’s demands first.

“It's not like that. See, as a player, when you play, you see what the team needs, and I bat accordingly. As a captain, with the kind of batsmen we have, I will go early if I am fitting in to the plan; otherwise not. So, I take such decisions. Yes, it's tempting, as I am a captain and I can promote myself.”

“But this is a team game, and I take decisions by keeping the team in mind. With the bat, I was not able to generate the same impact early on. I don't know if it was soft dismissal or being overaggressive. But I was clear – I knew who I wanted to target and who I didn't want to target.”

“When the fast bowler came, I thought he had a good slower bouncer. So I didn't target him, as he had 2 or 3 overs of spinners. So I waited for that, and I didn't go to hit a fancy shot. I worked on my strength in batting, and that worked.”

Axar also finally got his first wicket of the tournament by castling Riyan Parag, and he revealed his struggles with bowling with a cut on his finger sustained in the victorious Champions Trophy campaign in Dubai. “During the Champions Trophy, I suffered a cut on my finger, and the skin still hasn’t come up on it. So, I had been saving myself, and I was seeing that whenever the team needed me with the ball, I would bowl.”

“But after bowling four overs against SRH, the skin layer had come off again. Due to that, I wasn’t able to put pressure on it and bowl with the speed I wanted. The way the finger is now, it's good, and I think when I got the first wicket, if I had caught the catch in the field, I would have got the second one too; I would have taken a review.”

“But it's okay; it's part of the game, and I don't think so much. I think that if I am bowling well, then I don't care much about the wickets. If I had bowled the right ball, if I had executed my plan correctly – and if I get a yes on it, then I don't think much about whether I got the wicket or not.”

Axar signed off by saying he was pleased to get a win in the Super Over as DC captain, though he pointed out fielding needs improvement. “I was the captain for the first time in this situation. But winning that shows how the team's morale and confidence are. In such a situation, you can tell what the team's character is.”

“So, it was very good for me as a captain, as I got to know how the team can do in such a situation. I am very happy with my team in the way they are playing cricket and executing the planning. We will have to improve in fielding, but we will see in the next match.”