Indian Cricket Coach Gautam Gambhir and Skipper Rohit Sharma have once again found themselves in the middle of a controversy, despite India having won the last ODI against England, with Rohit scoring a fantastic 119 off 90 balls.
The controversy stemmed from the management’s decision to send Axar Patel, a bowling all-rounder, ahead of wicket-keeper batter KL Rahul. Promoting Axar over Rahul was something the experts struggled to wrap their heads around.
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Many claimed that this was a part of Gambhir’s over-obsession with maintaining the left-right combination in the game, even if everything is proceeding well with no changes needed.
It is not the first time that KL Pahul has had to compromise his position just to suit the needs of the management. The batter was shuffled down the order in the BGT as well, despite giving a strong opening performance alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal earlier.
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Dodda Ganesh, former Indian cricketer, wrote, “Axar Patel again ahead of KL Rahul? I’m speechless. Does it make any sense to push a genuine batter like Rahul to no 6?…
…When you’re 5/3, do you have the courage to send Axar on a tricky pitch? If not, what sense does this experiment make? Absolutely mindless this.”
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With only one more match to go before The Champions Trophy, it will be interesting to see if Team India manages to finally make its reasoning clear behind these unconventional decisions.
