India's 5-wicket victory in the first ODI of the ODI series against New Zealand at Eden Park is a simple story. With New Zealand being bowled out for just 185 runs, India chased the target of 143 runs (rev) in 22.4 overs thanks to an outstanding Virat Kohli innings (74 off 51). However, the Indian management cannot ignore the dip in Axar Patel's form.

Axar Patel has not been performing well after a poor performance in the T20I series. In which India lost the 3-0 lead and ended up losing the series 3-2, Glenn Phillips won the Player of the Series.

Here are three stats that show how Axar Patel has struggled on the 2026 tour of New Zealand

1.

Low impact in the ODI

Axar failed to make an impact with both ends of his bat in the ODI at Eden Park. The India seam attack ripped through New Zealand, taking all but one wicket, with Arshdeep Singh taking 4/70 and Anshul Kamboj claiming 2/22.

Axar was also left far too late, with him bowling just 5 overs in total in the 21st over. This meant he was only involved in 12.4% of the innings and was the least involved of the 5 Indian bowlers.

Although Axar had a good economy rate of 2.40 (12 runs conceded) he failed to add the required intensity to New Zealand's tail as they looked to recover from 97-5. Axar has an excellent average of 32.74 with 80 wickets taken in his ODI career, so failing to take any wickets was glaring.

He was promoted to number 5 to face Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul as they needed only 19 runs to win.

Axar didn't last long, though, taking only 2 balls before he was caught out by Glenn Phillips for a duck. This was similar to his performance five days ago at the same ground where he scored only 7 runs.

2. Fading strike rate outside Edgbaston

Axar has struggled badly in recent months as a reliable lower-order hitter.

He did have one shining moment during his tour to England in July. At Edgbaston, he scored an outstanding 57 off 52 balls. However, outside of this, he scored only 3 runs in his other 2 innings of the tour. That came from scoring 1 in Cardiff and 2 at Lord's.

In the T20I's he scored 3 runs from 4 balls.

Since then,

West Indies (T20Is): Scored 20 (14) in Indore and 3 (5) in the 4th game.

New Zealand: Scored 19 (9) in the T20I's and 7 and 0 in Eden Park.

In his last 5 innings he scored only 52 runs. This means his strike rate has been extremely poor with an average of 13.00.

3. Costly spells and failing in T20s

Axar has struggled across all the white-ball formats. The only time he has looked like taking multiple wickets was at Edgbaston, where he took 4/62. He also had a productive spell against Afghanistan in September.

However, outside of this, he has struggled to take multiple wickets. His last multi-wicket spell in the ODI's was back in the Champions Trophy in February 2025.

During the West Indies series,

He was completely out of control in the ODI at Ranchi. Shai Hope hit the winning six to finish his century off Axar. He finished with terrible figures of 0/63 in 3.5 overs (16.43 economy).

In the T20Is, he was absolutely dreadful, conceding 88 runs in 2 games and only taking 2 wickets.

He wasn't much better in the T20I's against New Zealand. He conceded 115 runs in 3 games whilst only taking 2 wickets. The Indian team decided to leave him out of the last 2 games of the series.

Conclusion

Although it was only one ODI affected by rain, it doesn't mean that Axar Patel is a liability to include in the squad. However, the pressure will be on Axar as they play their second ODI on the 7th November. With the competition for execution being highly competitive in India's white-ball teams, Axar will need to come up with answers quickly.