Axar Patel emerged as the player of the match in India’s 6-wicket win over England at Edgbaston on July 14, 2026. After the match, when players from both the teams were greeting each other, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and captain Shubman Gill were seen showering love on Patel and Washington Sundar.
Patel performed brilliantly with both ball and bat. After taking 4 wickets with the bat in the first innings, the spin-bowling all-rounder played an unbeaten inning of 57 runs off 52 balls to win the match for the India national cricket team. Washington Sundar provided good support to Patel by scoring unbeaten 52 runs.
Axar Patel performed brilliantly with ball and bat in India vs England 1st ODI
As Patel single-handedly strengthened England’s batting order, the hosts were restricted to just 258 runs for ten wickets in 47.5 overs. Early wickets of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli made the run chase challenging for India in the second innings.
India made a comeback in the run chase with a hundred-plus partnership between captain Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer. Another unexpected twist in the match was when Gill had to retire hurt due to pain in the back of his right leg. Shubman Gill left the field after scoring 80 runs in 75 balls with the help of eleven fours and one six.
England made a comeback in the match by taking important wickets in the second innings
England got another big lead when a direct throw from Harry Brook hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end to dismiss Shreyas Iyer. Iyer scored 35 out of 53.
A few balls after Shreyas Iyer’s dismissal, KL Rahul lost his wicket for just 1 run. As the top-order batsmen of the Indian batting order departed, the responsibility of continuing the momentum that the team built through the partnership of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer fell on the shoulders of Sundar and Patel.
Axar Patel and Washington Sundar helped India win the match in Birmingham
Washington Sundar and Akshar Patel did not disappoint the team and ensured the victory of Team India by making a partnership of more than fifty runs. Axar Patel was named player of the match for his excellent all-round performance.
Before Patel, there are very few cricketers who have led the Indian cricket team to victory in the ODI format by scoring more than 50 runs and taking four or more wickets.
Indian players who took 50+ runs and 4+ wickets in an ODI
| player | Display | Oppose | venue | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Krishnamachari Srikanth | 70 and 5/27 | new zealand | Visakhapatnam | 1988 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 141 and 4/38 | Australia | Dhaka | 1998 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 130 and 4/21 | Sri Lanka | Nagpur | 1999 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 71 and 5/34 | zimbabwe | Kanpur | 2000 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 118 and 4/28 | England | Indore | 2008 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 50 and 5/31 | ireland | Bengaluru | 2011 |
| hardik pandya | 71 and 4/24 | England | manchester | 2022 |
| Akshar Patel | 51* and 4/62 | England | edgbaston | 2026 |
After the match, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and other members of the Indian cricket team were extremely happy with the efforts of Axar Patel and Washington Sundar for the win. Patel and Sundar welcomed the greetings of their colleagues with open arms.
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and captain Shubman Gill are all praise for Axar Patel and Sundar for their match-winning performances . pic.twitter.com/tAPh6raEj2
– VaibhavNation (@harayram) July 14, 2026
