Sunil Gavaskar supported the failed experiment of Gill and Gautam, said – 'There is nothing wrong…'

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Sunil Gavaskar: The Indian cricket team won the second ODI match played between India and New Zealand by 4 runs with the DLS method. But, while chasing the target of 135 runs in this match played against New Zealand, India was in trouble at one time. After the dismissal of Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the team's score became 39/3. The situation became worse when Axar Patel also got out early and the team reached 47/4. Akshar, who came to bat at number 5 before KL Rahul, could score only 7 runs, due to which India got into big trouble.

The good thing for India was that KL Rahul, who came after him, handled the innings along with Shreyas Iyer. There was a good partnership between the two, which ultimately turned the match in India's favor. Although some cricket fans questioned the decision of head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill to send the first letter to Rahul, but veteran Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has defended this decision.

Sunil Gavaskar supported the decision

Speaking on Sony Sports Network after the match, Sunil Gavaskar said, “If a left-handed batsman comes in, the bowlers face a bit of a problem because they have to change the line and length set for a right-handed batsman. In an attempt to do this, the line against a right-handed batsman may also change slightly, which increases the chances of scoring runs.”

he adds, “There was nothing wrong in this thinking. If Akshar had scored runs, you would have said how brilliant the captaincy was. Sometimes such decisions work and sometimes not, and this time it did not work. Also, the team knew that there was a reliable player like Rahul after him. That is why such experiments are sometimes done.”

This is not the first time this has been done

Axar Patel has the power to change the course of the match for Team India not only with his spin bowling but also with his batting. In such a situation, this was not the first time that Akshar was sent before KL. Even before this, Akshar has been sent higher up the batting order in difficult conditions. The biggest example of this is the final of the T20 World Cup 2024, where Akshar played an important partnership with Virat Kohli.

Apart from this, even during the entire campaign to win the Champions Trophy 2025, Axar came to bat ahead of Rahul at number 5. In the second ODI, Rahul and Shreyas scored 30 runs each. India's score after 26 overs was 113/7 when the match was interrupted due to rain. India won by 4 runs under DLS rule.

India won the match by 4 runs

Talking about the second ODI match played in Wellington, the New Zealand team, which came to bat first, was all out on the score of 134. But, the Indian innings was greatly affected by rain. India was at 113 runs at the loss of 7 wickets in 26 overs, when the match was stopped due to rain and could not be restarted. However, with the DLS method, India won the match by 4 runs.

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