Axar Patel Dropped for India’s 5th T20I vs New Zealand After Historic T20 Double

What happened in Hamilton

Axar Patel was left out of India’s playing XI for the fifth T20I against New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Sunday, November 1. India made two changes for the series finale, and Varun Chakaravarthy came in as the replacement spinner. Shreyas Iyer explained the spinner’s inclusion after India had already sealed the series.

The move came days after a milestone that underlined why Axar matters to this side. Against New Zealand, he completed 300 T20 wickets and became the first Indian all-rounder to combine 3,000 runs with 300 wickets in the format. That double is not a cosmetic stat. It spans the IPL, international T20s and domestic T20 cricket, and it puts him in a class no other Indian all-rounder has reached.

Why he missed out

With the series already won, the finale was effectively a selection audition. India handed a game to Varun Chakaravarthy, the Chennai Super Kings leg-spinner, and kept Pant’s XI fresh for the tour ahead. Pant is also India’s captain in this format for the series, and the change meant India went into the decider with a different look in the spin department.

Earlier in the tour, Axar had played the first two T20Is against South Africa and was then ruled out of the remainder of that series. Across those two matches he scored 44 runs and took three wickets. The squad management named a Bengal cricketer as his replacement for that stretch, per team announcements at the time.

What the critics say

Axar’s Test and ODI spots are a live debate. Former India spinner Maninder Singh, speaking on the eve of the five-match ODI series against New Zealand, said Axar has lacked consistency and is a bowler who needs assistance from the pitch. Maninder put Axar’s name alongside Kuldeep Yadav’s as India’s left-arm options, and framed the spin workload as a toss-up with Kuldeep for the home season.

Those comments land against a bigger backdrop. Cheteshwar Pujara has said he believes Ravindra Jadeja’s ODI career is nearing its end, after Jadeja was excluded from India’s squad for the New Zealand series, and that Axar Patel is the main all-rounder in this team. Pujara’s view means Axar is not just holding his own spot — he is the man most likely to inherit the one Jadeja has occupied for nearly a decade.

The captain’s anger, the dressing room’s support

Axar’s role in the Delhi Capitals camp showed a different side of him. When a one-match suspension was handed to him during the IPL, Rishabh Pant was angered by it. Per Axar’s own account, the DC coach Ricky Ponting, director of cricket Sourav Ganguly and Pant himself attended the appeal hearing after the franchise filed against the suspension, and Pant made clear he thought the captain gets punished while the bowlers arrive late. That detail — Pant defending Axar in a disciplinary room — tells you how much the dressing room trusted the man now dropped from a T20I.

What to watch

The one-day series begins Wednesday at Eden Park in Auckland. Axar is likely to feature if Kuldeep is preferred with the new ball in the middle overs, and the selection question between the two left-armers will run through all five ODIs. The Test squad, with more than a month and a half before India’s next Test assignment, gives the spinners a workload that was minimal through the England home series, and the Telegraph reported it is a toss-up for the home season. Axar’s inclusion or omission there will decide whether Pujara’s prediction about Jadeja’s successor starts with Patel or someone else.