Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra questioned Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy after India’s three-wicket loss against South Africa in the second T20I at St George’s Park, Gqeberha on Sunday. Yadav gave a solitary over to Axar Patel despite assistance for the spinners on the track.
Varun Chakravarthy returned with a five-wicket haul as he registered figures of 5-17 in his four-over quota. Bishnoi, on the other hand, had figures of 1-21 but Patel was surprisingly used for a solitary over by SKY.
India was defending a below-par score of 125 runs but they could not restrict South Africa despite having the home team tottering at 66-6. Tristan Stubbs scored an unbeaten knock of 47 runs whereas Gerald Coetzee scored a fine cameo of 9-ball 19 to take the hosts over the line.
“What are we actually doing with Axar Patel? Why are you playing him? Give a little clarity. Axar Patel – one over in Kingsmead, Durban, and here also just one over. On a pitch where six of the seven wickets were picked up by spinners, he bowled just one over,” Aakash Chorpa said on his YouTube Channel.
“In my opinion, he is being underutilized as a resource. We are saying that you are playing three spinners but you are unable to play them properly. I am not thinking much about the batting failure but not bowling Axar Patel was an obvious mistake on Surya’s part,” Chopra added.
The renowned commentator noted that Tristan Stubbs was struggling against spin at the start of his innings.
“That was a thing that stood out here as Tristan Stubbs, who played well, wasn’t able to pick length properly at the start. He was going back against full deliveries. He is a quality player and he showed in the end how and why, but Gerald Coetzee came as an out-of-syllabus question, and I feel he will get one-and-a-half to two crores extra in the auction because he also hit sixes.,” he observed.
On the other hand, Axar Patel was promoted to number five after India found themselves struggling at 15-3. Patel scored a decent knock of 27 but he was unfortunately run out when Nqabayomzi Peter got a hand on the ball when Patel was out of his crease.
“In batting, you sent him up the order. He was unfortunate that he got run out. No one else did a good job in batting, whether it was Sanju Samson at the start, or Abhishek Sharma’s problems against the bouncers continuing,” he said in the same video.
The renowned commentator noted that most of the Indian batters were not at their best on Sunday and it led to the team’s downfall.
“He will have to acknowledge that problem. Suryakumar Yadav wasn’t ready for the full ball. An excellent catch was taken (by David Miller) to dismiss Tilak Varma. Rinku Singh hit the ball straight above his head,” Chopra observed.
The third T20I of the series between India and South Africa will be played at the SuperSport Park, Centurion on Wednesday.
