India vs West Indies: Experts baffled by Pandya’s tactics, call for major changes after defeat in 2nd T20I

Team India’s domination of West Indies in the Tests and in the ODIs in their tour of the Caribbean and the United States suddenly feels like it happened an eternity ago, with the Men in Blue finding itself in choppy waters at the moment. The Hardik Pandya-led Indian team, after all, are down 0-2 in the five-match T20I series against the West Indies after suffering narrow defeats in the first two games. Also Read | Misfiring top-order and other reasons why India lost 2nd T20I On Thursday in Tarouba, they failed to chase down a target of 150 , falling short by just four runs in the end. Three days later in Guyana, they did go past the 150-mark, but this time failed to defend the target , and now find themselves on the verge of losing a bilateral series comprising two or more matches against the West Indies for the first time in seven years. Tilak Varma, who made an instant impact on international debut with a 22-ball 39 and an outstanding catch in the first T20I, top-scored for the Men in Blue for a second game in a row, this time scoring his maiden half-century. Skipper Hardik Pandya then did the early damage on the Windies by striking twice in the very first over, removing Brandon King and Johnson Charles. And yet, the West Indies managed to walk away with another victory, thanks to the in-form wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran’s blazing 67 that contained six fours and four maximums. His knock not only helped the Windies recover from the early blow, but put them in a position from where the target was always within reach. Even if they did lose wickets in a cluster close to the finish line, resulting in a nervy finish for the hosts instead of a comfortable victory. Experts baffled by Pandya’s tactics India’s struggles in the T20I series, a stark contrast to their domination of the longer formats earlier in the tour, has attracted criticism from former and current cricketers and fans alike. Some were especially baffled by some of T20I skipper Pandya’s tactics during the second game, including holding leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal back when he was in great rhythm on they day and could have swung the match in the Men in Blue’s favour. Former India opener Aakash Chopra was among those who questioned Pandya’s usage of Chahal in the second T20I. “India didn’t start that well with the ball. Then came Yuzi Chahal and he picked up two wickets in an over. After that, he was stopped. In my opinion, if Yuzi Chahal didn’t bowl four overs in yesterday’s match despite taking two wickets in his first over, you missed a trick. “I was a little disappointed because you were holding back his three overs. You could have dismissed Nicholas Pooran because he bowls very well to lefties but you stopped him,” Chopra said in a video posted to his YouTube channel.

Chahal was the best Indian spinner…his 3rd over (16th over) spun the match in India’s favour. Hetmeyer…Holder dismissed by Chahal. Shepherd runout. He should’ve bowled the fourth over…ideally, the 18th over…if not 18th…definitely 19th. IMHO. #WIvInd

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) August 6, 2023

Fellow opener Abhinav Mukund too was "baffled" by Pandya's tactics . “I can’t get an explanation for it because 10 times out of 10 you would have gone with another over from Chahal and tried to close out the game there, especially with Alzarri Joseph there. “I was just a bit baffled by that decision to go back to Arshdeep because he is your strike bowler,” Mukund said on JioCinema. Robin Uthappa, also an expert on JioCinema’s panel of commentators for this series, had a similar reaction. “I have one expression – one Gen-Z expression for this moment – ‘poof’ and not in a nice way. I am just mind-blown by how when a guy gets you three wickets in an over, essentially you don’t bring him back for another one and kind of close the game completely. “The likes of Alzarri Joseph are not going to contend with the experience and class of a Yuzi Chahal. He knows how to bowl to these lower-order batsmen, he know how to get them out. And Akeal Hosein is not gonna take him on, not at that point with three overs to go. He would have backed himself with two overs to go perhaps, not three overs to go. So, you knew there was an error in judgement there,” former India batter said. The likes of Wasim Jaffer focused on other areas of concern in the Indian team, specifically at the top of the order where he called for a change of personnel. “I want to see Yashasvi Jaiswal. He should play as an opening batter. I want to see Jaiswal in place of Ishan Kishan. Ishan Kishan’s T20I form worries me. In the last 15 innings, he hasn’t even scored a 40, the strike rate is also too low. So, that’s a cause of concern, but he was in good form in ODIs. It’s a different format (T20I). He also had an ordinary IPL season,” Jaffer was quoted as saying on ESPNCricinfo. And last, but not the least, former India seamer Dodda Ganesh came to India head coach Rahul Dravid’s defence, saying his ex-Karnataka teammate should not be blamed for everything that’s wrong with the current Indian team and that some of that blame should be deflected towards the players.

Stop admonishing Rahul Dravid for every damn thing. He had no role in the captain juggling his bowlers today. Of late, Rahul has become a soft target only because he doesn’t say much in the media #DoddaMathu #CricketTwitter #WIvIND

— Dodda Ganesh | ದೊಡ್ಡ ಗಣೇಶ್ (@doddaganesha) August 6, 2023

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“Stop admonishing Rahul Dravid for every damn thing. He had no role in the captain juggling his bowlers today. Of late, Rahul has become a soft target only because he doesn’t say much in the media,“Ganesh wrote on Twitter.