WI vs IND: Hardik Pandya's bowling changes looked a bit confused, says Abhinav Mukund
WI vs IND: India failed to control the West Indies batters in the final T20I match of the series. Former India cricketer Abhinav Mukund criticised Hardik Pandya over his bowling changes.
In Short
- Abhinav Mukund criticised Hardik Pandya over bowling changes
- Axar Patel did not bowl in the powerplay once again for India
- India predominantly bowled a pace attack in the powerplay of final T20I
Former India cricketer Abhinav Mukund criticised India captain Hardik Pandya in the final T20I match of the series. Playing in Florida in the decider, India struggled to defend their 166-run target. West Indies were 117/1 in the 13th over when play was suspended momentarily due to lightning around the stadium area. With Nicholas Pooran and Brandon King in the crease, Windies needed 49 runs off 45 deliveries to clinch the 5-match T20I series.
Speaking on Jio Cinema during the break, former India cricketer Abhinav Mukund called Hardik Pandya's bowling changes a little confused. The India captain did not bowl Axar Pate in the powerplay once again and went with an all-pace attack in the early overs. While Arshdeep Singh picked one wicket, Hardik Pandya himself turned out to be expensive and gave away 32 runs in his first three overs.
With Nicholas Pooran in the wicket, Pandya did not bring in Axar Patel and decided to go with Kuldeep Yadav instead. Windies saw out Kuldeep (4-0-18-0) and attacked the rest of the bowlers. They were especially punishing against Yuzvendra Chahal as well, who at the time of writing had given away 33 runs from 2.3 overs.
"Hardik Pandya's bowling changes looked a bit confused. And I say confused because I think the rain played a part in choosing who was going to bowl in the powerplay. I would have started with Axar Patel which was the winning formula in the last match. Axar Patel should have started the bowling with the new ball with Arshdeep Singh," Mukund said during the rain delay in the second innings of the match.
"Personally, I would not have changed things too much from the 4th T20I. I think India were worried about the bad weather cutting 5 overs of play," Mukund concluded.
Earlier in the innings, India batters failed to get to a respectable total. Barring Suryakumar Yadav's 61 off 45 balls, India batters failed to put up decent runs. Hardik Pandya was especially poor, scoring 14 off 18, failing to given India the required impetus in the final overs of the innings.
