DURHAM have finalised their plans for the forthcoming County Championship season by signing up Indian spinner Axar Patel for the final six four-day matches of the summer.

Patel, who is an established member of India’s One-Day International and T20 squads, will arrive at Chester-le-Street in mid-August and is set to make his Durham debut in the Championship match with Glamorgan in Cardiff that starts on August 19.

The all-rounder, who plays first-class cricket for Indian state side Gujarat and IPL matches for the King’s XI Punjab, will also play in the Championship home games with Northamptonshire, Sussex and Middlesex as well as the away matches at Leicestershire and Warwickshire.

Since making his first-class debut in 2012, Patel has taken 79 first-class wickets in 23 matches, including 14 in two matches for India A against South Africa in 2015.

A useful middle-order batsman, he also boasts a first-class century to his name, having made 110 against Baroda in 2016. He has scored ten first-class half-centuries, and averages 48.45 in the first-class game.

He boasts 38 ODI caps for India, and has also represented his country in 11 T20 internationals, and is currently ranked 14 in the ICC’s ODI bowling rankings.