Before this Australian tour, Axar Patel appeared on the popular Gujarati comedy show Lavari. He was on stage with a bunch of comics, overly delighted to converse in his mother tongue, at ease in the company of those who let him be the boy from Nadiad, the temple town near Ahmedabad he grew up in. This was the real Axar finally standing up and being himself.

Alternately, he would have the crowd in splits with his sense of humour and in awe of his incredible ability to soak up pressure in tight situations. They all wanted him to talk about Bridgetown, and the 2024 T20 World Cup final, where he scored a game-saving 31-ball 47, after being promoted up the order to avert a 34/3 crisis.

It was something he did again as recently as in the second ODI in Australia. With Virat Kohli and Shubman

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