Rajkot
On the eve of the second T20I against New Zealand here, left-arm spinner Axar Patel said he doesn’t talk much to head coach Ravi Shastri on his bowling technique and revealed that the former India all-rounder only asks him to bowl stump-to-stump.

Axar felt his style of bowling is quite different from Shastri, who was also a left-arm spinner during his playing days. “I do not talk to him (Ravi) too much as he knows my bowling style is quite different as compared to his. He does not suggest too many changes,” the Gujarat spinner said.

Commenting on the role of the spinners — also including the wrist spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal — Patel said: “Wrist spinners can attack because they get more spin from the surface and it can be any surface. Their role is mostly to attack and take wickets in the middle overs. Finger spinner’s role is to contain things. If there is no partnership, pressure cannot be created on the batsmen. So this is our planning,” he added. Asked about his strategy going into the second game, which also gives India a very good opportunity to pocket the series, Patel said: “In the first ODI they had played the sweep shot really well. Their strategy in Mumbai was clear that they will sweep against the spinners. For me the strategy was to employ an angle, be it over the wicket or around the wicket, and mix things up. Push a full delivery or a shorter delivery. That is how we had planned things.”