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With the match against England a must-win, spin-bowling all-rounder Axar Patel claimed a milestone in his T20I career for Team India. Patel completes century in tonight’s match against England in Bristolth T20 International appearances. He becomes only the fifth Indian cricketer to claim this milestone.
Under the guidance of head coach Gautam Gambhir, the Indian cricket team saw several changes in the line-up across all three formats of the game. Especially for T20Is, team management often shows its confidence in emerging cricketers who have performed well in either the Indian Premier League or domestic cricket tournaments.
Axar Patel remains in the team as one of the few senior cricketers
Axar Patel is one of the few senior cricketers who has kept his place and is currently one of the main pillars of the team, who is currently in England for the white-ball series.
Ahead of the fourth match of the series, the spin bowling all-rounder performed well with both bat and ball as he scored only 15 runs with the bat in three innings and took a few wickets in 2 innings.
With the second innings of the first match being abandoned due to rain, Patel got a chance to showcase his bowling skills in two of the three innings. There are only a few players from India who have played 100 or more than a hundred matches for the Men in Blue in the shortest format of the game. Former India cricketer Rohit Sharma, under whom India won the 2024 T20 World Cup, is leading the board.
Rohit Sharma leads in record numbers
Rohit Sharma played 159 matches for India in the men’s T20I format before retiring from the format. Seam bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has been out of T20Is recently due to injuries, has played 138 matches for the India national cricket team in this format.
Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav are ranked third and fourth respectively in the list, while Axar Patel is ranked fifth. While Virat Kohli played 125 T20I matches before retiring from the format, another former captain, Suryakumar Yadav, who guided the Men in Blue to 2026 T20 World Cup glory, has represented the team in 113 T20Is so far.
Since the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) dropped him from the team ahead of the UK tour, Yadav’s T20I figures are currently on hold. In the fourth consecutive match of the current series against England, Patel has confirmed his place in the playing eleven and has achieved this feat.
Most matches played for India in men’s T20I:
Rohit Sharma- 159
Hardik Pandya- 138
Virat Kohli- 125
Suryakumar Yadav- 113
Akshar Patel- 100
Akshar Patel joined a specific company pic.twitter.com/7euksKMIxL
– Cricinfo (@cricinfo) July 9, 2026
Axar Patel’s IPL career in brief
Before tonight’s game, Patel has scored 746 runs in 62 innings with a strike rate of 131.10 and a batting average of 17.34.
With the ball, in 92 innings, the spinner has scalped 101 wickets with an amazing economy rate of 7.44, including best figures of 3/9.
