Axar, Jadeja and the spinning wheel

Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel have similar bowling styles. Yet, they are very different. Jadeja has a cyclic function and delivers unfailingly like a timed machine. He likes to use his angles depending on how responsive the pitch is, and relies on his drift. Axar, meanwhile, has a steady approach to the crease and releases the ball from a good height. A flatter trajectory is his preferred mode of operation and banks on extra bounce.

When Axar was handed an ODI debut after an impressive IPL 2014, he was seen as a like-for-like replacement Jadeja and his international career, for large parts, has coincided with Jadeja's shoulder injury that led to a dip in form and eventual ouster from the team in June.

Since then Axar has enhanced his reputation as a handy left-arm spinner who can bowl his full quota, even if his batting hasn't come along as much as it was expected to, in the limited opportunities. But Jadeja's irrepressible form for Saurashtra in first-class cricket and a stellar Test comeback against South Africa means he is once again knocking on the doors of the limited-overs squad.

The latest chapter in this fascinating battle within a battle unfolded on Friday during the league phase of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Axar topped off a crafty bowling spell of 10-0-30-2 with an unbeaten cameo to see Gujarat home in their tournament opener against Jharkhand in Alur. It earned him the Man of the Match, but more important were the variations he seemed to have brought into his repertoire.

Axar is largely perceived to be a run-containing bowler who darts the ball in. But on a pitch that did not offer much bite, there was a conscious effort to slow it down and deceive the batsman in the air. Parthiv Patel, his captain, summed it up nicely when he said playing long-form cricket meant Axar simply couldn't afford to be one-dimensional, and had to adapt.

Jadeja was having a ball as well, some 1500 kilometres away in Rajkot, by first cracking a 117-ball 134 and then picking up two wickets as Saurashtra won a thriller against Madhya Pradesh. The two events were as different as chalk is to cheese, but brought out a pertinent question about who held the edge if it boiled down to the two tussling for one spot.

Before the 2015 World Cup, Dhoni was emphatic when he said Jadeja had the edge over Axar because of experience in overseas conditions and better batting skills. But that changed when Jadeja hurt his shoulder. The fizz went missing in his bowling and his diffidence with the bat meant the selectors ran out of time and patience. The gap between him and Axar had narrowed so much that Jadeja wasn't even part of a second-string squad that toured Zimbabwe for a limited-overs series in July-August.

Since Jadeja was last left out, Axar has played in seven out of the eight ODIs India have played. In between, he was also part of the India A squad that played two four-day fixtures against South Africa, even returning figures of 6-6-0-4 in a match-winning effort. He had held his own in the recently-concluded ODI series against South Africa as well, even as Harbhajan Singh, playing in R Ashwin's absence because of an injury, and Amit Mishra, were the strike bowlers.

Meanwhile, Jadeja picked up a mind-boggling six successive five-wicket hauls and 37 wickets in three Ranji Trophy games to force his way back into the Test squad. As if to prove his job wasn't to just taking wickets, he also made 91 and 58 on rank turners in Rajkot to further strengthen his case. It meant the selectors couldn't ignore him anymore. And the comeback couldn't have gone smoother. Four Tests yielded 23 wickets that included two five-wicket hauls. Two crucial knocks of 38 and 34 in Mohali and Nagpur respectively also showcased his improved technique and resolve, unlike in the past where his Test batting has been either hit or miss.

Fair to say then that Axar hasn't put a foot wrong, but the weight of Jadeja's performances across formats are simply too hard to ignore. With Ashwin a certainty and Mishra's successful second-coming as an ODI bowler, the selectors face a healthy dilemma involving their two left-arm spinning allrounders. Or maybe, there could be a place for both of them, after all.