AHMEDABAD: Around an hour on the Ahmedabad-Vadadora Highway gets you to Nadiad, an old fashioned town. It looks wealthy yet simple. It is almost a given that at least one member from each family in Nadiad will head to the US for work.The Rajkiran household is an exception. It is the home of Axar Patel, or Akshar Patel as he is known to his family. Even if you are a newcomer to this locality, it is impossible to lose your way as everyone in these parts know where it is. It is possible that most people living here would have visited the Rajkiran household at some point as their family have a tradition of live screening matches that the all-rounder plays. “We can’t accommodate everyone inside, which is why we put up a projector outside,” says Sankship, Axar’s cousin.
The house that the Patels live in is a typical Indian middle-class one. Apart from a high-end TV and a PlayStation 4, their drawing room if filled with the trophies Axar has picked up. It’s so full there’s no more room to accommodate anymore. The almirahs are filled with trophies, from age-group cricket to the IPL. “We’d this one shelf. And after it got full, we made another one on top. Even that is full now. When we build a new house, we will ensure there is a big one which can fill all his trophies,” says Rajesh, Axar’s father. Axar’s bedroom, his favourite spot in the house, doesn’t have anything beyond the ordinary. A couple of his photos adore the walls of the room, which are not beyond 13x10 feet.
While the spinner’s entry into the Test level is what’s making the headlines, it’s easy to forget he made the 2015 World Cup squad less than than a year after making his debut. And it looks like the house hasn’t underdone a sea change since then. Like Axar, the house looks simple. But with all the money that comes from IPL, it is understandable that there are a few elegant flourishes, a sign of the left-armer’s rise in the game since his Ranji days. A two-wheeler that the 27-year-old used to take for practice isn’t there. But there are additions: Creta, Land Rover and a Verna. Both the Creta and Land Rover are parked under a cement-sheet shelter outside the house.
“After making it to the Ranji team he bought a Verna. Only after he made it to the Indian team, he bought Creta and now the badda wala(big one),” says Rajesh. “He’s fond of cars and phones. When he’s at home, he just asks for simple food because he doesn’t get it outside,” his mother, Priti, said.
Growing up, cricket didn’t happen by chance. Apart from being a class-topper in school, Axar was also serious about cricket. He had wanted to be a pacer like Wasim Akram (some of his India teammates call him Wasim even now because of his pace). An injury to his leg put paid to those hopes so he switched to left-arm spin. In Nadiad, he was also known as a hard-hitting batsman. “He was among those sought out in tennis ball cricket. It was only after he made it to the state team that he started bowling more,” Rajesh says.
Although cricket became his life when he was 13, it was a camp at the National Cricket Academy in 2012 that changed Axar’s life. Overseen by Sunil Joshi and R Venkatramana, his pace stood out even then. While most spinners are instructed to flight the ball, he was given options. “Thanks to his height and his accuracy, we thought it’s good to stick to his strengths,” says Venkatramana, who Axar credited during the third Test for teaching him to bowl straight. “He is a smart cricketer. With such ones, you just need to guide, they will handle the rest.”