Harbhajan Singh blasted Indian team management for not selecting Axar Patel against South Africa for their opening match of the Super 8 on February 22. Without Patel, who is also the vice-captain of the team, the defending champions of the ongoing T20 World Cup suffered a heavy defeat against South Africa. At the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India was defeated by 76 runs.
Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh strongly claimed that Patel should be in the match. He described India’s decision to snub the spin bowling allrounder, in place of Washington Sundar, who is another spin bowling allrounder, as beyond his understanding.
Harbhajan Singh points out Keshav Maharaj as an example
It is believed that, to handle the middle-order batters of South Africa, the management benched Patel. Singh pointed out the performance of Keshav Maharaj in the match. The experienced South African spinner picked up 3 wickets in his 3-over bowling spell.
Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, and Arshdeep Singh were trapped by the spin wave of Maharaj. Harbhajan strongly believes that Axar could do the same if he were selected for the match.
“You played Washington Sundar by dropping who? Your vice-captain, Axar Patel. That was a strange decision. These match-ups are beyond my understanding. The computers show them, and they have no head or tail”, Harbhajan Singh said in his YouTube channel.
“Look at Keshav Maharaj, he got Rinku Singh out, and he was bowling to Dube as well, why wasn’t every ball hit for a six then? All of these match-ups are useless, a good bowler can bowl to any type of batter,” he explained in support of his comments.
Axar Patel deserved to play: Harbhajan Singh
The ex-Indian cricketer emphasises that Axar Patel deserved to be in the match. Harbhajan labels Washington Sundar as a decent player.
“Axar Patel should have played this match, he is your vice-captain. Washington Sundar did not bowl the first or the second over, where he turned the ball or something. He is a decent player, but in this match, Axar Patel should have been played”, Singh added.
Meanwhile, Washington Sundar delivered a couple of overs, without taking any wickets and leaking 17 runs. During the run chase, he went to bat at number 5 only to score a run-a-ball 11.
Team India coach described why they play Washington Sundar
Explaining their decision to take a bet on Washington Sundar, Team India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said that they leaned on Sundar because of his credibility to deliver in the powerplays, while Patel used to bowl in the middle overs, when the ball starts to lose its shine, and the pitch goes rough.
“In our analysis, we felt the biggest threats were going to be Quinton de Kock, Ryan Rickelton, and David Miller. When you can only pick one of the two options, we leaned towards someone who could bowl in power play. Axar can bowl in the powerplay occasionally, of course. But we feel we’ve got Washington to a point where he’s found a way to be effective in that phase,” Ten Doeschate said in the press conference in Ahmedabad.
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