India's semi-final clash against England at the Adelaide Oval will decide the team that will face Pakistan in the final of the ongoing T20 World Cup at the iconic MCG. But the game isn't a straightforward one for the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma as he has to mull over a couple of selection dilemmas for the crunch clash. However, former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has suggested the team to go forward with either an extra batter in the form of Rishabh Pant or Harshal Patel instead of Axar Patel for the semi-final clash.
Sunil Gavaskar feels that the Men in Blue should go with an extra batter in the form of Rishabh Pant in place of the second spinner. He reckoned that since Hardik Pandya is back to his best, he can be the designated fifth bowler, and India can replace the second spinner with a batter, providing depth to the batting line-up. He further added that if Rohit Sharma wants to stick with his six bowling options in the team, then he should go with Harshal Patel instead of Axar Patel, given the shorter square boundaries on offer in Adelaide.
"India needs to think about their bowling attack. Should they play two spinners or a batter in place of a spinner? Can Pant and Karthik play together? If they can, Suryakumar can be at 4, Pant at 5, Pandya at 6, and Karthik at 7. You can stretch your batting, and Hardik is now bowling, so he can be your fifth bowler. We have to think this through. If you take an extra bowler, you have to consider that the boundaries are short for spinners. You can take Harshal Patel,” Gavaskar said on Aaj Tak.
The batting great lamented the use of Axar in the tournament so far and feels he isn't fulfilling his duties as a bowler or a batter in the Indian team. Gavaskar batted for Harshal Patel in his position since he is adept at defending shorter boundaries in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
"If you're giving Axar Patel 1-2 overs, and can't use his full overs, then why are we picking him? He isn't scoring runs at no.7 as well. He's a good player, he played good in West Indies, but if you can't trust him with the ball, you should pick a bowler on whom you can depend,” he added.
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