"Even Axar won't know what his role is" - RP Singh questions Hardik Pandya's captaincy in 2nd India vs West Indies T20I

RP Singh has questioned Hardik Pandya's captaincy in the second T20I between India and the West Indies.

The Men in Blue set the West Indies a 153-run target in Providence, Guyana, on Sunday, August 6. Their bowlers failed to defend the score as the hosts registered a two-wicket win with seven deliveries to spare to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

While reviewing the game on JioCinema, Singh opined that Hardik Pandya should have bowled Axar Patel considering the turn Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravi Bishnoi extracted from the pitch. He elaborated:

"Even Axar won't know what his role is. I feel he should have been bowled. It's not that if you have two left-handed batters in front of you, you can't be bowled. You have to see how he can be bowled. There was spin seen on the wicket when Yuzi Chahal and Bishnoi were bowling."

The former Indian seamer pointed out that the spin-bowling all-rounder could have formulated a strategy to keep the marauding Nicholas Pooran quiet. He explained:

"It was to be seen how Axar would have bowled but he wasn't handed the ball at all. It's a little bad for him as well that you are playing him but not giving him the ball. Yes, Nicholas Pooran was batting well. As a bowler, you could have given him a single and got the other batter on strike and bowled dots to him."

Pooran smashed a 40-ball 67 in Sunday's game. Pandya might have been wary of bringing Axar into the attack as the destructive wicketkeeper-batter had smashed 13 runs, including a six and a four, off the four deliveries he faced from the left-arm spinner in the first T20I.

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"I feel he miscalculated" - RP Singh on Hardik Pandya not giving the 18th over to Yuzvendra Chahal

Hardik Pandya held back Yuzvendra Chahal for the 20th over.

RP Singh praised Hardik Pandya's captaincy at the start of the West Indies innings. He reckons the Indian skipper might have erred in his calculation in not giving Yuzvendra Chahal his final over. He said:

"If we see at the start, the captaincy was good. You came to bowl yourself and picked up wickets. Then he waited to introduce the spinners when Nicholas Pooran was batting. Then Mukesh Kumar got Pooran out. After that, I feel he miscalculated."

The cricketer-turned-commentator opined that the wily spinner should have been given the 18th over. He reasoned:

"Yuzi Chahal picked up two wickets in an over and there was a run-out as well along with that. West Indies had lost eight wickets. If another wicket had fallen, it would have been difficult in the last over. I feel Yuzi Chahal should have bowled the 18th over."

Chahal picked up two wickets and conceded just three runs in the 16th over of the West Indies innings, with Romario Shepherd also getting run out in the same over. However, Arshdeep Singh and Mukesh Kumar bowled the 18th and 19th overs respectively. The duo ended up conceding the required 21 runs in 11 deliveries, denying Chahal the chance to bowl his final over.