Gautam Gambhir, Suryakumar Yadav Under Close Scrutiny: 'Something Feels Off'

India head coach Gautam Gambhir declared batting orders in white-ball cricket are ‘highly overrated’. Captain Suryakumar Yadav says nobody in his T20I squad has a fixed spot in the batting order except for the openers. These aren’t empty claims to create headlines. The Indian team has been consistently putting them into practice. Mullanpur T20I was just the latest example when Axar Patel, who bats in the lower middle-order, was promoted to the No. 3 spot in a chase of 214 against South Africa.

Axar managed run-a-ball 21 and India were bowled out for 162.

This is not to suggest that this move alone contributed to the record 51-run defeat, but it surely played a role as suggested by former India batter Robin Uthappa, who cannot fathom why the current

world champions sent a ‘pinch-hitter’ ahead of their ‘best batters’ when chasing a big total.

Uthappa, himself a World Cup winner, disagrees with India’s current approach of a flexible batting order.

“Well, honestly, that’s not how I see it. I’m only going by his (Suryakumar’s) words. In the pre-series press conference, he said the opening pair is set, but everyone else are moving pieces who must be flexible. With all due respect, I disagree,” Uthappa said on JioHotstar.

“When you’re chasing a big score, your solid batters – your best batters – should walk in. If you send a pinch-hitter, then he must play like one. If Axar was sent as a pinch-hitter today, he shouldn’t have scored 21 off 21; he should’ve gone hard and gotten out trying. But even that plan doesn’t convince me. After losing a top batter in the first or second over, you need stability at the crease. Something feels off here, and India must fix it before it becomes a habit,” he added.

Uthappa suggested that at least in the Powerplay, India must ensure that their best batters are on the pitch and once there’s a foundation, then they can tinker with the order.

“Your top three must be fixed, whether you’re setting a total or chasing one. These are specialist roles. Flexibility has its place, but that comes after the first six overs, once you’ve built a foundation. You can’t build that foundation when players don’t know their roles on a given day,” he said.

On Thursday, Axar walked in to bat in the very first over when opener Shubman Gill was dismissed for a duck. Uthappa says at that stage Suryakumar would have been the best option and warned that this experimentation could backfire during the World Cup next year.

“Using a pinch-hitter is fine only in the right scenario – for example, if Abhishek (Sharma) gets out early and you maintain the left-right combination while still sending your best batter. Had he come in at one-drop, he would’ve gotten around 60 balls; instead, he walked in at No. 4. This constant experimentation has been going on for a while, and I worry it will hurt India at a crucial stage of a major tournament. You don’t want that happening at a World Cup,” Uthappa said.