Former Indian player Sunil Gavaskar has said that the Indian team’s decision to send Axar Patel ahead of KL Rahul in the second ODI against New Zealand wasn’t wrong. He also stated that the left-handed batter was sent to force the bowlers to alter their line and length as well. Notably, India bowled out New Zealand for 134 after asking them to bat first in Wellington, and India eventually won the game by four runs via the DLS method.

During a discussion on Sony Sports, Gavaskar said, “The bowlers have slight difficulty if a left-handed batter comes because you have to change the line and length you would have caught for a right-hander, and in trying to do that, your line can change slightly even to the right-hander, where more chances of getting runs are created.”

“There was nothing wrong with that thought process. If Axar had scored runs, you would have said how good the captaincy was. Such moves work at times and don’t work on other occasions, and it didn’t work this time. You also knew there was a solid player like Rahul after him. That’s why you experiment at times,” he further added.

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However, Sunil Gavaskar also chose KL Rahul when asked to pick the most impressive Indian batter in the second ODI against New Zealand as well.

“KL Rahul impressed me the most because of the way he faced the bowling. He came in a difficult situation. He first hit the short ball along the ground and then hit over the top. He probably knew that the square-leg boundary was slightly shorter at one end, and he took advantage of that,” he said.

“Being an opening batter, he will open in Tests, he was playing with a straight bat and soft hands. He was looking solid. At the same time, he was hitting fours when required, which meant he was maintaining the pressure on the bowlers. The bowlers might have bowled a few good deliveries, but he scored runs whenever he got a chance,” Gavaskar concluded.