Sunil Gavaskar backed promoting Axar Patel to number six during Saturday’s ODI in Wellington. Although Axar scored only seven runs from seventeen deliveries, Gavaskar said, "There was nothing wrong with that thought process." The move aimed to disrupt Kiwi bowlers, but the tricky pitch made batting a difficult task overall.
Axar scored only seven runs from seventeen deliveries coming to bat in crucial situation
India were in a bit of bother at 39/3 in the second ODI in Wellington after Rohit Sharma fell. The Indian team management decided to bring Axar Patel on at number 6. Although he has played crucial innings in difficult situations before, the pitch's behaviour made facing the quality Kiwi bowlers look like an uphill task on Saturday, and he looked a little out of sorts.
Despite criticism and questions about the decision, former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar agreed with the tactic of sending a left-hander up the order to break the sequence of right-handers.
"The bowlers have slight difficulty if a left-handed batter comes because you have to change the line and length you would have for a right-hander. In trying to do that, your line can change slightly even to the right-hander, where more chances of getting runs are created," Gavaskar explained, speaking on Sony Sports Network after the game.
However, Axar scored only seven runs from seventeen deliveries. "There was nothing wrong with that thought process. If Axar had scored runs, you would have said how good the captaincy was. Such moves work at times and don't work on other occasions, and it didn't work this time. You also knew there was a solid player like Rahul after him. That's why you experiment at times," Gavaskar observed.
India skipper Shubman Gill said that while he thought skittling out New Zealand for just 134 would lead to a textbook-easy chase, the surface at the Hnry Stadium was anything but.
"As long as we get the win. It wasn't easy batting. Getting them out at 134, I thought it'll be an easy target, but it wasn't. Happy we got there in the end. The pitch was challenging, but we lost two extra wickets than we'd have liked in the end," Gill said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
"In the last match, Gurnoor bowled really well too. As he gets more experience, he'll get more consistent. He already has the pace and bounce. Most of the seamers have all the qualities. International cricket is about performing under pressure," Gill said.