Yuzvendra Chahal, India’s spin master got only two overs to bowl in the second T20I against New Zealand.
However, skipper Hardik Pandya decided against using India’s spin wizard Yuzvendra Chahal for his quota of four overs.
Chahal was given only two overs to bowl while part-time spinner Deepak Hooda was allowed his four overs by Pandya.
Chahal was brought on in the Powerplay where took the all-important wicket of Finn Allen.
But, now not using Chahal fully, Pandya has received quite a backlash from former India cricketer, Gautam Gambhir.
Gambhir says that it makes absolutely no sense to him for Pandya not to give four overs to Chahal.
Massive surprise. I can’t answer that question, that too on a wicket like this. Chahal is your number one spinner in the T20 format. Just asking him to bowl two overs and in that he got the important wicket of Finn Allen and then not using his full quota of overs makes no sense to me.
Gambhir majorly surprised over Pandya’s decision to not give Chahal a chance
Meanwhile, Pandya allowed Deepak Hooda to bowl his entire quota of four overs but denied the same to Yuzvendra Chahal.
On the other hand, Pandya fully wanted to utilize the overs from Arshdeep Singh and Shivam Mavi.
Gambhir says that while it is important to give a chance to youngsters such as Arshdeep and Mavi, the skipper should have also considered Chahal during the match.
Yes, you want to give young guys another opportunity like Arshdeep Singh or Shivam Mavi. But then you could have bowled Chahal in the last over as well, or earlier. So I feel he missed a trick. He could have got New Zealand bowled for maybe 80 or 85 and on this kind of pitch, you don’t want to let the opposition off the hook. Massive surprise, asking Hooda to bowl four overs but not Chahal.
Meanwhile, India has leveled the T20I series 1-1 and will now be facing off against New Zealand at Ahmedabad in the third T20I.
Suryakumar Yadav was the Player of the Match for his unbeaten 26 from 31 balls.
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