Axar Patel opens up on what helped him make rapid rise as a batter

It was one of Axar's best knocks that the 29-year-old has played across formats as he along with Ravichandran Ashwin (37) shared a 114-run stand for the eighth wicket to help India reach 262, just one run short of Australia's first innings total.Axar, in the last three months has come of age as a batter, producing crucial performances with the bat across formats. The southpaw after the close of play attributed his rapid growth as a batter to a change in mindset and his conversations with Australian legend Ricky Ponting. "At Delhi Capitals, I talked a lot with Ricky on how I can get better with my batting. Even in the Indian team, I was talking to the batters. I felt I was not realising my potential with 30s and 40s. I was not able finish the game.

"So, it was a lot about the mindset. Sometimes you can relax as an all-rounder if you have taken wickets, you could get casual. So I thought I could improve on that and convert my 30s and 40s into match-winning scores.

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Australia were 61/1 at stumps on the second day, leading India by 62 runs, with Travis Head (39) and Marnus Labuschagne (16) at the crease. The visitors lost their opener and man-in-form Usman Khawaja (6) to Ravindra Jadeja early in their second innings.

"That is how I think now and that has made a big difference," said Axar after stumps on day two.Axar and Ashwin also got high praise from Australian spinner Nathan Lyon who feels the Indian spin duo is good enough to bat in the top-six of any international side."When I am bowling, we think how the batter is making things difficult for us. I use the same technique while batting. If the bowler is landing all the balls in the same area, the