Axar Patel was devasted, dejected and shattered not once but twice in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa. First, it was when he got out at the wrong time. He was comforted by Jasprit Bumrah in the dressing room then. Secondly, when Heinrich Klaasen hit him for 24 runs in one over that nearly ended India's hopes. Captain Rohit Sharma came to Axar's aid this time around.

Axar, who was promoted at No.5, after India lost three quick wickets in the powerplay, gorged a good partnership with Virat Kohli to bring India back in the game. He was looking set for a big one when a run out cut his innings short. Axar was dismissed for 47. The all-rounder revealed he was dejected for a long time as he thought he could have taken the game from South Africa. But it was Bumrah who comforted him.

"I got out at the wrong time. It was my mistake. I was not alert. I was angry with myself. I was hitting the ball well, and also, Virat bhai was also set at the other end. We were planning to accelerate. We could have added more runs for sure. For three overs, I was sitting alone then Bumrah came and gave me a tap on my shoulder and said, ‘You have to bowl four overs. You have given us momentum. Let it go now'," Axar The Indian Express.

There was another important moment in the game when Axar needed the support from his teammates. It was after being hit for two sixes and two fours in the same over by Klaasen. The costly over brought the equation down to only 30 runs off 30 balls.

Axar said he thought "it was over" but captain Rohit Sharma said "The match is not over yet."

"For the first five seconds Yes, I thought it was over. I was down but I had that intuition that we might turn it around. Rohit bhai came to me and told me ‘match khatam nahi hua hai (Match is not over yet).’ In the bilateral series when you get hit, you immediately let your shoulders down, and your body language shows that you have given up. But in that match, none of us were ready to give up. We wanted to take it to the final ball of the 20th over," Axar said.

Rohit, however, later on admitted that he too was blank for a brief moment at that time but did not lose hope.

Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh brought their A-game to the table to choke South Africa in the last five overs. The Proteas were able to hit only one boundary in that period. India won the match by 7 runs to put an end to their 11-year-long wait for an ICC title.

Axar played a crucial role with both and ball right throughout the tournament.

"Different format, different speed. In Tests, you have to be more consistent. You have to hit that one spot ball after ball because you have to bowl longer spells. You can’t bowl one poor delivery. In Test matches, I try to bowl slow, and it also depends on how the wicket is reacting, and how much help is there from the surface.

"With the white ball, you can bowl to different lengths. I can vary my lengths. One ball I can pitch it on off stump, the next on the middle and leg stump or tad short. In white ball, you have the luxury to experiment because you need to confuse the batsman because he is eager to take chances. Whereas in the red ball, you can’t do it. In first-class or Test matches you wait for batsmen to commit mistakes, while in the ODIs or in the T20Is, you have to attack to take wickets," he said.

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