India should offer Axar Patel a chance over Chahal in the final T20I, feels Gavaskar

After India's wrist spinning duo, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, created a havoc in the ODI series picking up a total of 33 wickets across six matches, which is the most by India's spinners in a bilateral series, they have mellowed down in the last two T20I’s with Yadav injured and Chahal managing to pick up just one wicket at a dismal economy rate of 12.87.

This has led many to suggest that Kings XI Punjab star Axar Patel should be given a chance in place of Chahal for the final match of the T20I series. Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar was the latest to join the bandwagon after he reiterated the same in his column for TOI.

“It has all come down to the last game of the tour. India will consider the tour a success if they prevail over the Proteas in the Newlands encounter. The South Africans batted brilliantly to win the second game at Centurion and will be buoyed by that victory. It was not just the win, but the manner in which they dealt with their tormentor in the One-day series, Yuzvendra Chahal that will please them. They will take that confidence into the next game.

“This is the second game that Chahal has been hammered, so it won’t be a surprise if Axar Patel gets to play in his place at Newlands. If the pitch is as flat as it was for the One-day game played earlier in the month, there could well be another big scoring game,” Gavaskar wrote in his column.

Gavaskar was all praise for skipper Virat Kohli and match umpires too, for the second T20I, who didn’t stop play despite light drizzles throughout the second innings that made the ground wet and caused problems for the Indian bowlers, especially the spinner.

“What needs to be praised even more is the decision of the umpires to keep on playing despite a bit of rain pretty much throughout the Proteas innings. There was a full house and they went home satisfied in the end. Kohli did try to express that his bowlers were getting hampered by the wet ball, but he also deserves full praise for carrying on playing,”

“T20 is pure entertainment and so a little rain should not stop play. It’s a different matter of course if it’s a five-day Test as the pitch could change with the rain,” Gavaskar added.

India play South Africa in the third and final T20I on Saturday at the Newlands in a must-win match in order to clinch the series victory in what will be their last match in the ongoing tour of the Rainbow nation.