With Sri Lanka requiring 13 to win off the final six balls, there have been fairly a number of raised eyebrows as India captain Hardik Pandya requested Axar Patel to bowl the final over of the primary T20I at Wankhede Stadium.
“We would lose a recreation right here and there nevertheless it’s alright,” Pandya defined within the publish match presentation. “I need to put this staff in troublesome conditions as a result of it’s going to assist us in massive video games. Bilaterals we’re excellent at and that is how we’re going to problem ourselves. To be sincere, all of the younger weapons acquired us out of the scenario in the present day.”
Shocked to see Axar bowling the ultimate over? Right here’s Captain @hardikpandya7 revealing the rationale behind the transfer. #INDvSL #TeamIndia @mastercardindia pic.twitter.com/dewHMr93Yi
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 3, 2023
Harshal Patel had already conceded 16 runs off the penultimate over. Axar Patel would start with a large earlier than he was picked up by Chamika Karunaratne for a most because the equation fell down to 5 wanted off the final three balls. The southpaw all-rounder nevertheless, took stored his nerve as he helped India declare a two-run win.
Earlier, Axar had additionally contributed with the bat as he scored 31 runs off 20 balls so as to add 68 runs for the sixth wicket alongside Deepak Hooda.
Making his T20I debut for India, Shivam Mavi was the choose of the bowlers as he picked a 4-fer, giving freely simply 22 runs off his quota of 4 overs.
“The dialog was quite simple, I’ve seen him (Mavi) bowl properly within the IPL and I do know what are his strengths, simply again your self and don’t fear about getting hit. I simply instructed him to easily bowl. I instructed him, ‘I’m backing you. Even when you get hit, it’s fantastic.’ If the identical scenario is there, I’ll take the brand new ball,” Pandya stated afterwards.