Image Credit source: PTI
Team India also lost in Cuttack T20, South Africa won the match by 4 wickets. After the defeat of the Indian team, questions are being raised on captain Rishabh Pant and head coach Rahul Dravid regarding the batting order of Dinesh Karthik.
Whenever a team loses, then questions arise after that. Something similar is happening after the defeat of Team India in Cuttack T20. Team India lost by 4 wickets in the second T20 and after that the question arose as to why Dinesh Karthik’s batting position was so low in this match? Let us tell you that Dinesh Karthik was sent at number 7 after Axar Patel in Cuttack T20, after which people started questioning coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rishabh Pant. Let us tell you that Dinesh Karthik was in good rhythm but he came to bat at number 7 and scored 30 not out in 21 balls at the crucial occasion. After this innings, the question arose that if Karthik had been sent on his batting order, he could have taken the team’s score further. However, Shreyas Iyer has answered this question in the press conference.
Why Dinesh Karthik was sent below Akshar Patel?
Sending Axar Patel to bat ahead of Dinesh Karthik may seem odd but top-order batsman Shreyas Iyer defended the decision taken in the second T20I against South Africa, saying it was better to steal a couple of runs (rotate the strike). Seeing the circumstances, this was done. This strategy did not work and Akshar struggled to score runs. His dismissal in the 17th over reduced India’s score to 112 for six. Coming to bat at number seven, Karthik’s unbeaten 30 helped India reach 148 for six.
Shreyas told reporters after the match, ‘We had adopted such a strategy earlier also. When Axar landed at the crease, we had seven overs left. He can take a couple of runs and rotate the strike. He said, ‘Apart from this, then there was no need for anyone to get down to the crease and hit with the first ball. DK (Karthik) can do that, but he has been more beneficial for us after 15 overs where he can play long shots as soon as he hits the crease. Shreyas argued that even Karthik had to struggle to score runs on this wicket. He said, ‘Even in the beginning, Karthik also found it a little difficult to score runs. The wicket played a big role in this match. As far as this strategy is concerned, we will follow it in future also.
Team India scored 12 runs less!
If Karthik had been sent earlier, India could have scored more than 160 runs and Shreyas also admitted that in the end almost 12 runs were short. He said, ‘If you look at the match, I think 160 runs on this wicket would have been really good to put a little pressure, but we were 12 runs short of that.’ South Africa took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series after registering a four-wicket win with the help of Heinrich Klaasen’s 81 runs.
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