Cricketer-turned-commentator Abhinav Mukund criticized the Indian skipper Hardik Pandya over his captaincy approach in the final and deciding T20 game against the West Indies on Sunday. The Men in Blue were completely outplayed in the series decider as they failed to challenge the Windies batters in a rain-curtailed game.
The Indian all-rounder captaincy came under the scanner as he could not rotate the bowlers properly in the decider in Florida as he predominantly went with the pacers in the bowling attack, as the West Indies batters Nicholas Pooran and Brandon King took on the Indian bowlers to seal a historic series win against the mighty Indian team after 17 long years.
Speaking on Jiocinema, Abhinav Mukund questioned Hardik Pandya’s bowling changes in the final T20 game as he looked a bit confused in the middle due to the rain and raised his concern regarding the usage of Axar Patel in the team and feels that left-arm spinner should have opened the bowling alongside Arshdeep Singh.
“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,” Abhinav Mukund said.
The all-rounder did not get the opportunity to bowl in the initial overs 5th T20 against the Men in Maroon largely due to the presence of Nicholas Pooran. Axar Patel can play at any position for the team but has been drastically underutilized in recent times, especially in the bowling department.
I Would Not Have Changed Things Too Much From The 4th T20I – Abhinav Mukund
Abhinav Mukund feels that the Indian team should have stuck to the same strategy as in the 4th T20 game against the West Indies, where they chased down the total within the 17 overs but opted to bat first in the final and deciding T20 game, which worked against the Indian team.
“Personally, I would not have changed things too much from the 4th T20I. I think India was worried about the bad weather cutting 5 overs of play,” Abhinav Mukund added.
Indian batters, other than Suryakumar Yadav could not make a significant impact for the team in the final T20 game against the West Indies as they failed to capitalize on the pressure moments of the games and the Indian bowlers failed to apply pressure on Windies to lose a series after a long time.