Cricket

'Poor captaincy'- Indian fans slammed management's decision to send Axar Patel ahead of Dinesh Karthik in the first match against England

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Daniel S
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Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik: (Image Source: Twitter)

India registered an easy 50-run win against England in the first match of the T20I series at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Thursday. Indian captain Rohit Sharma returned to the international scene for the first time since the conclusion of Indian T20 League 2022 at the end of May.

The star all-rounder Hardik Pandya impressed with both bat and bowl to give India a 1-0 lead in this three-match series. Fans celebrated India's big win but were not fully impressed with the team's decision to send all-rounder Axar Patel ahead of the in-form batter Dinesh Karthik.

Earlier, Rohit won the toss and decided to bat first, with left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh making his debut for team India. Indian batters started the inning with an attacking approach and scored 66 runs in powerplay overs at the expense of both the openers. The middle-order in form of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik, and in-from Deepak Hooda was impressive and steadied India to a big total.

India lost their fourth wicket in the form of Suryakumar Yadav at 126 runs in the 12th over. But fans were not worried as they were expecting Karthik to join the already settled Hardik Pandya for the remaining overs.

But Indian management sent Axar before Karthik, which fans termed as a clueless decision from Rohit Sharma and management. Many of them believe that the veteran wicketkeeper batter deserves to spend more time on the crease. One fan said that they can't expect him to play seven or eight balls in every inning and score biggies.

Axar was part of India's recent T20I series against South Africa and Ireland but is yet to make a worthy impact with both bat and ball. On Thursday, he scored 17 runs off 12 deliveries, with the help of three fours, before getting caught out on Matt Parkinson's delivery.

Karthik walked in at the number seven position with just 20 balls remaining. He scored 11 runs off seven balls but could not deliver the big finish. India were looking strong for a 220-230 total but were restricted to 198 runs with just 16 runs coming in the last two overs.

But Indian bowlers did a great job from the first ball itself and bowled out England for just 148 runs. However, Axar continue to struggle with the ball, conceding 23 runs in just two overs without  a wicket to his name.

Dinesh Karthik was outstanding in the Indian T20 League 2022 for Bangalore. He scored 330 runs at 55.00 and a strike rate of 183.33.  That earned him a well-deserved national team call-up after almost a gap of four years.

He continued that momentum and smashed a match-winning fifty against South Africa. But fans feel he can score big runs if he spends more time at the crease. Some fans also predicted a 200-plus total if the management had sent Karthik ahead of Axar on Thursday.

Here are some fans' Twitter reactions:

 

India England Axar Patel Dinesh Karthik England vs India India tour of England