Axar Patel's explosive innings in Duleep Trophy reignites memories of World Cup final as he smashes boundaries with fury

Axar walked out to bat in the 11th over of India D's innings after the Shreyas Iyer-led side, put to bat first by C team captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, was struggling at 34 for five. Despite a slow start, scoring just three runs off the first 25 balls he faced, Axar shifted gears and took on the role of an aggressor after the lunch break.

The left-handed batter went all guns blazing from the 39th over onwards when he smashed a six against bowler Manav Suthar, followed by two boundaries and then another six which saw him complete his fifty in 77 balls. Axar's counter-attacking game rubbed off on fellow batter Arshdeep Singh as well, who smashed a six to deep mid-wicket.

Axar was eventually dismissed for 86 off 118, laced with six boundaries and as many maximums, as India D recovered to score 164 all out in 48.3 overs.

The knock gave fans a flashback of his recovery act in the World Cup final on June 29, when he scored 47 off 31, and stitched a 72-run stand alongside Virat Kohli, who carved out a rather sluggish 76 to help India amass 176 for seven in 20 overs after being left at 34 for four inside the powerplay.

Barring Axar, none of the India hopefuls in India D lived up to the expectation. Captain Iyer, who is aiming to make a comeback to the Indian middle-order line-up for the upcoming tow-match Test series against Bangladesh since being dropped from the side midway through the England home series earlier this year, scored only a 16-ball nine, while Devdutt Padikkal, who scored an impressive fifty on his Test debut in the England series in Dharamsala, was dismissed for a four-ball duck. KS Bharat, who fell out of reckoning in the Indian team after failing to score a fifty on any of his seven appearances, managed only a 42-ball 13.

For India C, Vijaykumar Vyshak, who was among the Indian uncapped bowlers to have been handed a special fast-bowling contract from the BCCI, was the pick of the bowlers with his 3 for 19, while Anshul Kamboj and Himanshu Chauhan picked two wickets each.