India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav struggled to defend the decision of sending all-rounder Axar Patel at No.3 in the second T20I against South Africa at Mullanpur in New Chandigarh. To be fair to Surya, anyone would. Every team experiments before a big tournament like the World Cup but there is a clear thought process and logic behind it. Unfortunately, in India’s case, that seems to have taken a back seat.
When they lost vice-captain Shubman Gill in the very first over of the 214-run chase – Gill was out for a golden duck – in walked Axar Patel at No.3. There was Suryakumar Yadav, one of the world’s most destructive T20I batters despite his recent form and India’s Mr consistent in T20Is, Tilak Varma. If they wanted another left-hander, Tilak, who has scored centuries while batting at No.3, should have been promoted. And coming to think of it, why would they need two left-handers in the middle when Abhishek Sharma was already there?
The go in and hit out logic also doesn’t apply to Axar. He scored 21 off 21 balls with a boundary and a six when the required rate was over 11 runs per over.
“We just thought in the last game, we have seen Axar bat really well in the longer format. And we wanted him to bat back the same way today as well. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, but he did bat well. But we will see what’s up for us going on in the next game,” Suryakumar Yadav said in the post-match presentation after India’s 51-run defeat.
It clearly lacked conviction and logic. Something similar was repeated by assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate in the press conference.
“We are trying things combination-wise, we’ve got eight or nine games now before the World Cup. And I guess again, being quite frank, we found ourselves being 35 for three more times than we would have liked in the last couple of months,” said ten Doeschate.
