India’s all-rounder Axar Patel recently shared a funny memory from his India A days during the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. With India advancing to the Super 8s after three straight victories, Axar opened up about a dressing-room moment.
He reminisced about how teammates like Karun Nair and Manish Pandey regularly drank black coffee, which puzzled him at the time. Axar preferred sweetened tea and found black coffee too bitter.
“Jab mai India A khelta tha toh Karun Nair, Manish Pandey aur kafi cricketers the jo black coffee peete the. Mai wahi apna chai, usme bhi sugar dalna, aise peeta tha. In logo ko dekhke maine ek baar taste kiya. Maina bola bhai, yeh kya pee rahe ho? Peena bhi hai, isme taste bhi nahi hai, woh bhi bitter, toh ku peena hai? Maine bola mai free mai bhi na peeyu,” said Axar in a video from ICC.
(“When I used to play for India A, there was Karun Nair, Manish Pandey, and many other cricketers who used to drink black coffee. I used to have my tea with sugar. Looking at these guys, I tasted it once. I said, what are you having? You want to drink it, but there is no taste; it is bitter. Why do you want to drink this? I said I wouldn’t even have it for free.”)
