India, Jan. 10 -- Axar Patel has come a long way since garnering national attention due to his breakthrough performance in IPL 2014. From being considered a spinner who can occasionally be handy with the bat, he has become India's senior all-rounder, adept with both ball and bat.

Axar started his international career under MS Dhoni's captaincy, and it was the CSK star who made Axar realise the importance of improving his batting too. Speaking to the Times of India, Axar said, "I started as a batter but became a full-time spinner when I reached the NCA. In my early days I didn't do well with the bat and started doubting myself."

"When I got dropped in 2018, I worked very hard on my batting. When MS Dhoni was mentor of the 2021 T20 World ...