‘Did Pant take sleeping pill?’: Jadeja, Gavaskar lambast team management for sending Axar Patel ahead of Kohli

During the chase on Day 3 of the second Test against Bangladesh on Saturday, December 24, Team India had a mini-collapse as the top order broke down. The team management’s judgment is being questioned because of the alterations they made to the batting order after two wickets fell, despite the fact that the performance of some of the batters, notably interim captain KL Rahul and former leader Virat Kohli, is cause for concern.

A chase of 145 initially appeared to be fairly simple, but things quickly became complicated as Bangladesh’s spinners went on the rampage in Mirpur’s final session on the third day. Shakib Al Hasan, the captain, dismissed Rahul for one after which Mehidy Hasan quickly added to his mark. Cheteshwar Pujara, India’s vice-captain, was dismissed by Mehidy as India had lost two quick wickets. 

Axar Patel was surprisingly sent in by the team management in place of Virat Kohli. It appeared to be a tactical decision since India wanted the left-right combination and didn’t want to expose their star batter with 30 minutes left.

Stumps on Day  of the second #BANvIND Test.#TeamIndia move to 45/4 & require 100 runs to win with @akshar2026 & @JUnadkat at the crease.

Scorecard – https://t.co/CrrjGfXPgL pic.twitter.com/d9w83R8qLt
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 24, 2022

Former Indian cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Ajay Jadeja were not at all pleased with the decision, even though Kohli ultimately entered the fray when Shubman Gill’s wicket fell and was dismissed as well. Gavaskar said that it sends a bad message to Kohli for Axar to be promoted, but Jadeja took it a step further by saying that Rishabh Pant should have been brought in if they required a left-right combo.

Speaking on an interaction on Sony Sports, Gavaskar said, “It doesn’t send good signals to Kohli. To the world’s best batsman that you bat down. Unless Kohli himself asked for it, then it’s a different matter. We don’t know what happened in the changing room. But it’s hard to understand. Axar has played well, of course.

“Irrespective of left-hander or not, let Rishabh Pant come into bat next tomorrow. Let this left-hand and right-hand experiment stop,” Gavaskar added.

“He is the world’s best player. 15 overs were left. Saba Karim said it could have been because of the left-right combination, which is an obvious thought, but then I feel – did Rishabh Pant take a sleeping pill? I will also say that it is easy for us to say this from here; we don’t know if someone was not feeling well,” Jadeja said.

India still needs 100 runs to win, so they will be counting on Pant and Shreyas Iyer to repeat their first-innings heroics and lead their team to victory.

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