S7E3 | Axar Patel | Breakfast with Champions ft Gaurav Kapur | @skodaindia

I have to tell you that you are a good luck charm for us also because... Your birthday is on 20th Jan? BwC's birthday is 20th Jan, 2017. We released the show on that date. 20th is a solid date. Oh no, what date is it today? Today is also the 20th. Just a month ahead though. It's okay, how do people know? We'll just say it's January... Let people think it takes 3 months to edit the show... Like a feature film. - Today is 20th Jan, happy birthday! - Oh, thank you! Often we see that those who are

intense on the field... They are equally chilled out off the field. Today I'm going to meet one of these "take it easy" policies... The man who gave England sleepless nights, Axar Patel joins me on... What's the confusion behind your name? Akshar or Axar? AX or AKSH...? So the correct spelling is Akshar but... I was in Bangalore for the U-19 camp before the World Cup... The team was going to Australia and... Everyone told me to get a passport made because I didn't have one. I needed a leaving

certificate and my license. I was only 17 then so I didn't have any of that... You didn't have a license? Come on, I'm sure you did... No how could I have a license at that age? - You get that only later - Everyone had one, I got mine at 16. I didn't have that type of license. When I went to school to get the leaving certificate... The principal made it Axar. - He must have had less time. - I have no idea what he did. The NCA people said, "You usually write Akshar... Then why is it Axar in y

our passport?" I called my dad and he said "Now nothing can be changed". I'm thinking, it's fine, let's just stick with it. Then, I was picked by Mumbai Indians and played for India too... Everything is going well, let's not change Axar and disturb things. That's an Indian attitude, "If it's going good then let it be". We use that same line nowadays. When Rishabh (Pant) and I play in the IPL, we tell each other ... "Let things be the way they are". When we'd gone for the England tour, where

we were for 6 months... We even modified "Let things be the way they are". 'This is what it is'. One time, one of Rishabh's friend was complaining about something... I said, 'Rishabh this is what...' And he finishes, "...it is". Rishabh Pant on the stump mic is a show. - He should actually do it. - Leave him on the whole day... Leave him on the whole day. The stuff he says, man! That's still fine, but the noises he makes... He makes noises like that. He will always make some noise or the othe

r. I tell him, "What are you doing?!" He'll say, "Need some fun around, we'll get bored otherwise". He'll randomly ask the fielder at point, "Bro, how's it going?" The slip fielders are always ready, he can do anything... He'll throw his gloves to the side. He'll do anything. The person next him always has to be alert. When Virat is there, he controls himself... He knows he has to be quiet then. But if it's Puji bhai (Pujara), Mayank, KL... Then there's no holding our man back. If it's going

good then let it be. But Delhi's team last year also had a lot of fun characters... There's a core group we have... Ishi bhai (Ishant Sharma), me, Rishabh, Avesh Khan... We chill at night after games, ordering hot chocolate... We're chilling, bantering... One time when we were together, Ishant bhai said... He's on the phone, placing an order and said... "Hello, I want a cup of tea so send that... I want ginger in it but don't take the ginger and jump into it". Ishu Bhai. It's a patent of his,

when two of us will get together... And start to pull his leg, he gets really annoyed. I always add some fuel to the fire... "Rishabh you're right, Ishu bhai you shouldn't have done that". "Yes, please come and jump into the pool". That's his patent dialogue. "Come you also jump in". In the IPL, your debut match wasn't with Mumbai but with Punjab. I was on the bench for the 1 year I was in Mumbai. It wasn't a 11-man team that would be made 1st... 12th man was Chahal and the 13th was Axar Pat

el. The 12th and 13th man were fixed. Chahal and I would say to each other... Even if no one else is there, our spot is fixed... The 11 might change, but 12th and 13th player is always fixed. But at that time also, there was Chahal, you... That Mumbai team was packed with giants. There was Rohit (Sharma) bhai, Sachin sir and the likes... Jaspirit (Bumrah) and I began together... And we were awestruck. All the big stars we used to see on TV are now standing in front of us... What do we do, wha

t shouldn't we do? I still remember when both of us were picked by Mumbai... We went mad after seeing our room for the first time. Your clothes, kit bag, travelling bag are all kept ready... For the first 5-10 minutes, Jassi (Bumrah) and I were looking at each other... - This is on another level... - Hit the jackpot. We've come from Gujarat, where we were playing Ranji Trophy... And now straight to IPL. I still remember when we'd come to the ITC Gardenia... Back then, Anil (Kumble) bhai was the

coach. There was a get-together and we were playing a game. He made us all sit in a circle... Sachin Sir started by introducing himself... 'I am Sachin, I'm from Mumbai, my pet name is this... The 2nd person had to introduce himself and the person before him The 3rd person had to introduce the two before him and so on. I was 15th in the circle so I'd have to introduce everyone from the start... I told Jassi, "Your English is still okay but me on the other hand... I am trapped there also,

what will I say??" We are looking at each other and laughing. - Let things be the way they are. - This is what it is. Jassi is a simple guy right? Or is he secretly mischievous? I feel he does it secretly. He does everything secretly and how. Shikki Bhai (Shikhar Dhawan) must have told you. - Ishant (Sharma) told me. - Ishi Bhai would have also told you. Disappeared. If I tease him, he won't get that annoyed. But if someone else says anything to him... He really takes it to heart. - You feel he'

s going to eat you up. - Then bouncer in the nets? In the nets, even if you middle the ball by chance... You've got to tell him it was a good ball. Is the sound alright? I should have asked earlier... Hello hello 1, 2, 3... 1, 2, 3. It's good? Hello everyone, I'm Axar Patel and I'm coming... Sorry. Where did you get the motivation to play cricket? There must have been a moment that changed your focus completely. That focus came through my grandmother I was my grandmother's favourite... I was

the youngest so she loved me the most. If there was some work to be done, she'd tell my sister or elder cousin to do it. They would complain, "You never make him do anything... You protect him and make us do everything". She'd say, "He's so young, how can he do so much work?" When I'd go to play matches, my grandmother would always ask... - "Will you come on TV now?" - So sweet Then my dad would explain to her that only when I play for India... The only thing she knew was that blue jersey mean

t India. She'd say, "Tell when he appears on TV, I'll watch". So all of this had happened... I continued playing, I played for U-16, the state team... I played to have fun, I didn't think too far ahead and just played. A match between Kheda and Gandhinagar was on... And I had gone to Gandhinagar and during that time... My grandmother had a heart-attack. - I wasn't able to go to her funeral. - They didn't tell you also right? Yeah, my family didn't even tell me. When I went my mom hugged me and

cried. And until then, my dad hadn't cried. Family members told me how he'd just been quiet but hadn't cried. I said I'll talk to him. Then he hugged me and cried and after crying, he said... "Son, you've had your fair share of fun and mischief... 'But I've never asked anything from you and never will I ever ask anything...' But my mom's last wish was to see you on TV". That night, I was by-myself and that's when I decided to get serious... Cricket was always my passion but it then became my

focus. The next morning itself, I told my dad... 'Even if it's just 1 match, I'll wear the blue t-shirt and play for India'. That was a promise I made. I have seen my dad cry just twice... 1st when he cried and hugged me, and 2nd when I was picked for India. I said, 'I told you I'll appear on TV at-least once. But he liked doing detective work too right? When you were bunking training and he followed you? Where is the young lad off to? The lad wasn't going anywhere, he was going to play cricket

only. - But I was playing with friends. - Not proper cricket then. Not proper cricket, I was going to play rubber-ball cricket. One of my friends got a form about a cricket camp and was talking it up... I also thought it looked solid. I had 6 school friends, which meant we had 6 players... I knew 3-4 others from the other class, so we had 10 players sorted. We had to get the principal's sign. So we got the principal's favourite... To be part of the team. And there was 1 water boy who only car

ed about hanging with everyone. I took the camp form to my dad for him to fill up, I told him... It will involve running and he was pleased that I'll be building my fitness. Because of all this, he agreed to send me to the camp. When I went there, I saw that there's no batting or bowling... For one week, it was just catching practice and front foot - back foot drills. 1-2-3, 1-2-3. This skill training is on... The biggest challenge was the 2-3 rounds we had to run at the end. Now we were stuck

. And then I started to bunk. I'd leave on my cycle and go to the ground just 2 mins from my place. Everyone played with tennis ball there, I've grown up playing there. -Tennis-ball, rubber-ball cricket? - Rubber ball cricket Before leaving, I'd rub some mud on myself like this... -No way! Actually? It should seem like I've been to the ground I had to cover all my bases. Very clever, covering yourself with mud and going home. Then the coach must've called home. We've seen this story in every mo

vie. The coach calling is still fine, but the problem was that... The secretary was dad's friend. - That's where the problem arose. - "But he leaves from home everyday". - "He leaves home everyday" - "And returns sweaty and dirty too". So on that day when I left, I didn't know dad was following me... Like always, I had left my kitbag on the side and was playing with my friends... He saw all this and left and when I returned home in the evening... I said, 'Man, what a tiring day'. He asked how m

uch many rounds I ran. I told him I did 5 rounds and how it had been a killer session... "Yeah, the killer session was at Dhaval's house right?" Something doesn't add up here. Daya... He scolded me a lot, lectured me... But after that I began going regularly and made some friends. At the end of the session, we were given Parle G biscuits... So that was an added incentive and I also became regular. The things we'd eat in our childhood man... Today it's all about fish oil, multi-vitamins and what

not... Back then, we'd get all these vitamins from Parle-G biscuits... That time no one had a problem. We'd get 4 biscuits after a full day of training and we'd be satisfied. - You talk to your dad before every match? - Before. So do you get advice or is it just a fun chat? Earlier, we used to talk before and after the game. Because I started playing because of him, so I had to listen to his advice. - Had to pay your installments. - So I had to listen to him. We're both night owls so we'd go d

rink tea around midnight... And the night crowd is anyway high in number always... So when we'd sit together we'd receive comments from those around us. And I didn't have the guts to say anything to my dad then. -Do you have the guts now? -Right now, I mean... He had an accident 3 years ago and had a brain haemorrhage... - That must have been a hard period for you. - Yeah, very hard. I got a call from my brother at 1am. "Axar, where are you?" I said, 'I'm sleeping'. "Come to the hospital quic

kly, Dad has had an accident". I went to open my cupboard and... - Became numb. Yeah numb, I didn't know what to even do. I took out some clothes and went straight to the hospital where Dad was... He was saying something that we couldn't understand... But he had a head injury. This happened around 1st March and I had to leave around the 8th... But I explained the situation to them and told them I can't come... Then Rahul (Dravid) sir called me and told me not to worry... "Family is first and

you take care of them... 'You can even join us in the middle of the tour... I will tell them to book your tickets". - Oh wow. - Even I felt the same thing... My dad's the reason I took up cricket and if it wasn't for him... I would have ended up as an engineer or something but he encouraged me to play. 2-3 weeks passed and he was behaving like a small child. He could identify very few people and wasn't able to do anything else. But the day I visited him, he stood up by himself. Mom is asking h

im, "Do you know who he is?" He'd say, "That's my son, what do you know". - And then he came and hugged me. - Wow. Before that, my friends told me that he used to hit them... "Get out of here, why are you standing around me", he'd shout. I don't know what happened after that day but he began to recover. He can walk and move around by himself, what else do I need? Absolutely, all we want is for our parents to enjoy their life. You've worked enough, enjoy now. That's what I tell him, stay retired

and don't worry about anything. Hello everyone, I'm Axar Patel and I'm coming... Sorry. MS (Dhoni) one liners are too good... He pulled your leg also right? Because your debut tour was his last, when he stunned everyone. The next day itself, on the 2nd day of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne in the evening. - I was like, 'What just happened?' - You didn't say, "Did I do anything?" No I didn't say anything like that but the atmosphere had changed... Everyone was quiet and Ravi (Shastri) called

for a meeting... "Everybody we have to make an announcement, Mahi is retiring". (Suresh) Raina Bhai started crying, everyone around me is tearing up. I was in another world, 'What just happened, what's going on?' I didn't even know what to say, it was the first time I was meeting Mahi bhai. But before I said anything, he only said, "Bapu... You arrived and made me leave". I was like, "What did I do?!" Then I teared up... I just arrived and he is leaving? He said he's just joking and then hugged

me. How to run the game, where a player needs to move... He knew exactly how to use a player and get the best out of him. He knew the player better than the player knew himself... A lemon doesn't know how much lemonade it can produce. Yeah, but he knew how to extract all the juice. There's a great term in English for this... Next time you have a team meeting with Delhi, use this... 'I am working on optimisation of resources'. I am working on optimisation of resources. I should go to Ricky (

Ponting) and tell him this next time. It's a solid line, he'll be shocked. He's always annoyed with me 'cause I don't talk a lot during meetings. I can still explain what I'm saying to Ricky though... I'll ask someone to explain what I'm saying. You won't understand my English, I'll still be able to understand yours... But there's no way you'll understand my English. Even the English don't understand it. But the English don't understand anything about Axar. -C'mon. - That series, that match..

. What was the analysis? First 2 wickets, then 5, then 10 wickets, 11 and then again 9 I turned on the TV, started watching the game... Then stepped away for a bit... And when I returned, I was like "Where's everybody gone??' Same thing happened to me and my friends said to me... "We wasted money on these tickets because of you". I asked, 'What happened?' He said, "Our entire group had planned to go but the game was done by Day 3". "Why were you in such a hurry?" I said 'I'm not in any hurry..

.' The English players were in a hurry, tell them! They want to return to England quickly, what can I do? Obviously if you play cricket, the ultimate goal is to play Tests for India. I was in and out of the team for many years. I was going to play the 1st game of that series... But I got injured 2 days before the game. The cap was there, I just had to take it. 'The morsel was in the hand, but I wasn't able to taste it'. But the comeback has its own fun, and you get this inner satisfaction... Th

at all the hard work you've put in over the years has paid off. There's a saying, "Came late but it was worth the wait". At some point, you must have thought of changing your name again. -No no - Or change the spelling of your name? Let things be the way they are - Optimisation... - Optimisation of resources. Of resources. Ok, optimisation of resources.