‘After 15 Overs, We Needed DK To Slog The Ball Right Away’- Shreyas Iyer Explains Why Axar Patel Was Promoted Ahead Of Dinesh Karthik

IND vs SA Live Update: Shreyas Iyer, a batter for Team India, has explained the choice to deploy Axar Patel rather than Dinesh Karthik in the second Twenty20 International that took place on June 12. He said that it was a move made for strategic purposes. After losing four wickets with more than seven overs left in their innings, Shreyas remarked that India needed someone to stay around since they needed to continue their innings.

After South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first in the second Twenty20 International that took place in Cuttack on Sunday, Axar stepped in to bat at position No. 6 in the batting order. When Axar stepped out to the center, the hosts were in a difficult position at 90/4. However, the left-handed batter had trouble making an impression and was eventually dismissed by Anrich Nortje for 10 runs off 11 balls.

IND vs SA Live Update: What did Shreyas Iyer say about the choice of promoting Axar Patel over Dinesh Karthik?

India was ultimately unable to achieve a score beyond par of 148/6 on the board and went on to suffer a defeat by a margin of four wickets, falling 0-2 in the five-match series as a result. When Shreyas was asked about the decision to promote Axar instead of Karthik during the post-match conference, he responded as follows:

“Seven overs were remaining, and Axar is someone who can take singles and keep the strike moving in different directions. Then, we did not need someone to come in and start hitting straight away from ball one. DK is capable of doing that as well, but after 15 overs, when we need him to be able to slog the ball right away, he becomes a very valuable asset for us. Even for him, it was at first a little bit difficult to do what needed to be done.”

After Axar was removed, Karthik hit 30 runs off of 21 balls to help India to a decent total. However, this was not enough as Heinrich Klaasen’s 81 runs off 46 balls sealed a victory for the Proteas by four wickets.