An odd six or two doesn’t bother Axar Patel. “Kabhi kabhi yeh hota T20I mein (This happens sometimes in T20Is). Even your best balls could be hit for six. You try not to repeat the same mistake and bounce back,” he once told this newspaper. Had he brooded over the sixes struck off his bowling, he wouldn’t have built the imposing career he has. Yet some sixes sting. Bowlers fall apart, begin to question themselves, and become unrecognisable.

It took just one violent swipe from Finn Allen for Axar to turn into a different man. Allen backed away a fraction from the stumps and bludgeoned the full ball outside off-stump over long-off. It was a staple Axar ball, one most batsmen would have nudged for a single. But he was a yard slower than he had thought, and Allen had adequate time to process his options. Axar blew his cheeks in anguish.

This is the crux of Axar’s T20 smarts: landing the ball on the precise spot he wants, at the exact pace and angle he chooses.…