Head coach Jon Lewis is hoping Axar Patel can help Durham finish the season with a flourish – and propel himself into Test contention at the same time.
The Indian all-rounder penned a six-game deal for the back-end of the 2018 season, following on from Tom Latham’s spell as the Club’s overseas player in the Specsavers County Championship.
Despite featuring heavily for his country in limited-overs cricket, Patel is yet to make his full Test debut, though he did impress in two outings for India ‘A’ against South Africa ‘A’.
And Lewis admitted it was a departure from recent overseas signings, but that Patel will offer him plenty of options for the final weeks of the season.
“It’s a bit of a slight chance of tack for us. In the last couple of years we’ve had a couple of top order batsmen, with some departures it’s an area we’ve looked a little weaker but perhaps Cameron [Steel’s] progression has given us some encouragement to look at another part of the side we can strengthen for the last part of the Championship season,” he said.
“There’s lots of ways he will contribute, his first-class average is just below 50 with the bat & we can balance the side in many different ways with him. That gives us options as well.
“Although he’s not had an awful lot of international red ball experience as yet, he is in a group of spinners from India who are exceptional. The fact he can’t quite squeeze to the top of that list with Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Chahal – it’s a pretty good pile he’s trying to get to the top of.
“He’s had a lot of experience with India with the white ball but his domestic first-class cricket is good & the reason he may not have played more for India with the red ball is the standard is very, very high in his area.”
“Having seen lots of him & spoken to lots of people, I think he will be a good first innings bowler for us too. You need a spinner who’s going to offer you plenty of wicket-taking opportunities when the game goes deep but you also need a control, holding role in the first innings, which he can offer us as well & allows us to attack with the seamers.”
“He’s got a lot of experience for a 24-year-old & still has a lot ahead of him. For him, that’s part of the reason he’s coming here – he needs to promote himself as a red ball cricketer as well as with the white ball. It’s a tough pool of players within the Indian game but at 24, he still has great opportunity to do that.”
With the additions of Aiden Markram, who arrives at the back end of this week, as well as New Zealand international Latham, Lewis now has the overseas spot covered for the entirety of the season, with the potential for another addition during the Vitality Blast.
“At times during the winter, you think things aren’t going to come together at times but it’s managed to dovetail really well,” he said.
“It still leaves us with perhaps another option for T20 but I’m really, really pleased. To bring three in of the quality we’ve got, we’ve done really well.”