Axar Patel surprised by pitch conditions in Mumbai

India vice-captain Axar Patel said the team was surprised by the pitch conditions during their T20 World Cup opening match against the USA at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, which is usually good for batting.Despite losing early wickets, Axar said the team believed they could still reach a competitive total.After being asked to bat first, India fell to 77/6, but captain Suryakumar Yadav scored 84 not out from 49 balls to help India post 161/9.India then restricted the USA to 132/8 to win the match by 29 runs.“The planning is according to the match situation. Generally, the wicket in Mumbai is flat (and) we took about three overs to determine what would be a good score,” Axar told the reporters after the match.“The dressing room atmosphere was like that... the kind of confidence with which we are coming in, we knew even if one batter gets going we would reach around 140-150. The wicket was also behaving (differently).”“We were surprised because we thought that this is a flat wicket which generally in Mumbai is,” he added.Axar said there was some pressure in the dressing room after the early batting collapse, especially as it came in the first match of the tournament.“Obviously, you feel that because in last (so many) tournaments there has been such an early collapse. Cricket is like this, (but then) it’s good that it happened in the first match,” he said.“It is important to understand the nature of the wicket and the type of cricket we have been playing, we were not able to execute the shots. If it happens again, we will have the experience to take it to 160-170.”“You have to change your style looking at the wicket but we were playing attacking cricket only and not just playing defensively or taking singles or doubles. You have to hit the way the wicket is behaving,” Axar said.Axar said the plan was to score around 140, and that in such situations the team often ends up with more.“We (Suryakumar and I) talked about taking it till the end because we had no batter left. We wanted to stick around for the next 2-3 overs and then accelerate,” he said.“The player that he is, you know what happens when he is in form. After last year, the form he showed in the New Zealand series and is continuing to show it and he knows what his game is, which he showed in a big match today (Saturday), Axar added.