CUTTACK, June 13: It may have looked odd to send Axar Patel ahead of India’s ‘designated finisher’ Dinesh Karthik in the second T20 against South Africa but top-order batter Shreyas Iyer defended the strategy, saying the need of the hour was to “rotate strike”.
India were struggling to get going and were 112/6 when Axar Patel got out in the 17th over as it was mainly due to the veteran Karthik’s pyrotechnics while batting at No 7 that they could get post a respectable 148/6.
“It’s something we had strategised earlier as well. We had seven overs left when Axar went in, and he’s someone who can take the singles and keep rotating the strike,” Shreyas said at the post-match media interaction on Sunday.
“Also, at that point in time, we didn’t require someone to go in and start hitting from ball one. DK can obviously do that, but he has been a really good asset for us after 15 overs, where he can go in and start hitting straightaway.”
Promoted at No 6, Axar scored 10 off 11 balls before being cleaned up by Anrich Nortje, while Karthik slammed an unbeaten 30 from 21 balls. (PTI)
