Axar

Patel

Axar Patel Biography and Career

Axar Patel is an Indian all-rounder who plays for Gujarat in domestic cricket and is the face of Delhi Capitals in the upcoming edition of IPL 2025. The hero of India’s 2024 T20 World Cup-winning campaign, where they won a pulsating final against South Africa, Patel has been in and around the fringes for many years, but it is only since 2021 that he has really cemented his place in the national setup.

Patel’s bowling is his stronger suit but of late he has become an accomplished batsman as well and dug India out of a hole many times. A prime example of that was the terrific innings he played with the bat at the T20 World Cup final against South Africa when promoted up the order he scored 47 off 31 balls, smashing one four and four sixes.

Born in Anand, Gujarat in 1994, Patel didn’t want to become a cricketer in the first place. He wanted to become a mechanical engineer. But fate had something else in store for him. In 2010, he met with an accident where he broke his leg and was out for the entire season. Patel almost quit cricket at the time, but his grandmother’s will to see him on television in national colours inspired him to make a comeback.

Patel made his first class debut for Gujarat back in 2012 but had a significant impact in the 2013-14 Ranji Trophy season where he picked up 29 wickets and scored 369 runs. He was picked by Mumbai Indians in the IPL in 2013, but did not get a game. It was with Kings XI Punjab where he really shone through.

After consistent performances across formats, he got an India debut in 2014 but for the next few years, he was in and out of the team, only required in the absence of Ravindra Jadeja. He failed to get into the Indian side for the 2017 Champions Trophy and was only a standby player for the 2019 ODI World Cup. 

But the 2020s brought about more success for Patel. In 2021, he made his Test debut against England and picked a five-wicket haul in his first game. He finished the series as the second-highest wicket-taker with 27 wickets despite playing only three games. 

A string of consistent performances kept him in the mix for India in all three formats. In the year 2022, he made a 27-ball half-century, his maiden one in ODIs, to seal a series win for India against West Indies. He was part of the Indian squad in the 2022 T20 World Cup and then in the 2024 edition. Patel was also named in the 2023 ODI World Cup squad but had to be withdrawn due to an injury to his left quadriceps. 

Having been under the shadow of Jadeja for the longest time in international cricket, Patel has managed to carve an identity for himself in the last few years. Since 2021, he has been a fairly regular member of the Indian side. With Jadeja retiring from T20Is, Patel has now become India’s go-to player, especially in the shortest format of the game. In January 2024, he was also named vice-captain of the Indian T20I side.

Axar Patel in the IPL

For the longest time, Patel was the mainstay of the Kings XI Punjab line-up. After being released by Mumbai ahead of the 2014 auction, he was picked by Punjab and showed his wares with a 17-wicket debut season, the joint-sixth-most in IPL 2014. He had a massive role in taking Kings to the final for the first time in the IPL, which they lost. In IPL 2016, he picked a hat-trick against Gujarat Lions, taking four wickets in five balls. 

Patel stayed with the Punjab franchise till 2018 and finished as their fourth-highest wicket-taker of all time. He was then picked by Delhi Capitals ahead of the 2019 season for Rs 5 crore. Ahead of the 2022 auction, Patel was retained by Capitals for a mammoth sum of Rs 9 crore. He even captained the Delhi side in the 2024 IPL for a brief time when Rishabh Pant was not around. 

In 2024, Patel was DC’s fourth-highest run scorer with 200+ runs and their fourth-highest wicket-taker with 11 wickets while keeping an economy of 7.65. Patel was retained by Capitals for the 2025 season and is a front-runner for captaincy with Pant going to Lucknow Supergiants. 

Beyond cricket

Patel married Meha Patel in January 2023 in Vadodara, Gujarat. The couple welcomed their son Haksh Patel on 19 December, 2024. An interesting quip about Patel is that his first name was supposed to be Akshar, but due to a BCCI clerical error, he became Axar and the name stayed. 

Patel has quickly become quite a crowd favourite. An otherwise shy character, he has 2.5 million followers on Instagram while on Twitter (now X), he has 1 million followers. 

Patel endorses a number of brands. He recently joined FitFeast, a fast-growing name in the protein foods space,  as an investor and brand ambassador. He is also the brand ambassador of Wybor, a consumer electronics brand and the face of JSW Sports. He also endorses brands such as JBL, SG Cricket, BoAt and Apollo.

Axar Patel Awards

• Patel won BCCI’s Under-19 cricketer of the year award in 2014
• Patel won the IPL Emerging player of the year award in 2014

Axar Patel Records

Axar Patel Domestic Records

• Patel was one of the key men involved in India Under-23s' title win in the ACC Emerging Teams Cup in 2013

Axar Patel Test Records

• He became the ninth player to pick a five-wicket haul on Test debut
• Patel is only the second left-arm spinner to bag a five-wicket haul on Test debut

Axar Patel IPL Records 

• Patel picked 17 wickets in his debut IPL season in 2014 for Kings XI Punjab, which was the sixth-most that season
• He took Punjab to the final of IPL 2014 for the first and so far only time
• In IPL 2016, Patel picked a hat-trick against the now-defunct Gujarat Lions. In fact, he ended up picking four wickets in five balls
• In IPL 2016, with Rising Pune Supergiants requiring 12 off two balls to win, Patel conceded two sixes against MS Dhoni