India T20I captain for the ongoing West Indies series, Hardik Pandya came in for some heavy criticism over him not properly utilizing his spinners in the recently played second match of the five-T20I series which India lost by 2 wickets in Guyana on Sunday.
India had posted 152/7 after Pandya won the toss and chose to bat first. Tilak Varma hit his maiden T20I fifty, while Ishan Kishan and the skipper himself made other contributions. In response, West Indies were reduced to 129/8 in 16 overs.
Yuzvendra Chahal had hit the hosts hard, removing Shimron Hetmyer and Jason Holder in the same over. But with only two wickets left to win the match and Yuzvendra Chahal having one more over in his kitty, Hardik Pandya, inexplicably opted to bring back pacers Mukesh Kumar and Arshdeep Singh.
Akeal Hosein and Alzarri Joseph made merry against the pace as they romped home with 7 balls to spare and West Indies went 2-0 up in the series.
Many criticized Pandya for not having Chahal complete his four overs and surprisingly, not even utilizing Akshar Patel at all with the ball.
Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer said that he was shocked at the captaincy and said that he could not understand why Chahal was not given his final over.
"Very surprising, especially Chahal not bowling his fourth over and Akshar not bowling even one over. I am kind of surprised, because everyone thinks that Hardik is the next leader of Indian white ball cricket and for him to not show faith in Yuzvendra Chahal and Akshar Patel is a little surprising. The guy who bought you in the game (Chahal) and for you to not trust him in the fourth over shocks me. He could have probably finished the game. I am as surprised as everybody right now," Jaffer said on ESPNCricinfo.
"I am also very, very surprised. I thought he bowled the 18th over (16th), but he should have definitely bowled the 19th over," Jaffer further added.
Jaffer believed that India need one player to anchor through the innings and let the others play around them.
"One of the top order guys has to get 60-70 and the others have to bat around him. That is the easiest way to go around in these pitches," Jaffer further added.
The third T20I will be played on Tuesday in Guyana.
