Former India cricketer Ajit Agarkar has questioned India’s tactics of holding Yuzvendra Chahal back while bowling during the second ODI against West Indies on Sunday, July 22 at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad. India conceded 311 runs against the hosts in the first innings. They eventually won the match by two wickets, on the back of Axar Patel’s incredible knock.
Batting first, Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran took the Indian bowling attack to the cleaners. Yuzvendra Chahal was brought into the attack in the seventeenth over by the Indian skipper Shikhar Dhawan. The scoreboard had already crossed 100 runs by then. The spinner finished the match with bowling figures of 1-69 in his nine overs.
The decision to bring Yuzvendra Chahal late to bowl was criticized by some fans and experts. When asked if he would have liked Chahal introduced earlier into the attack. Ajit Agarkar replied during a conversation on Fan code,
“I don’t quite know what is the plan regarding holding Chahal back. He has done really well whenever he has bowled. Today you could see that when there are explosive hitters in the end, maybe he was a little bit greedy trying to pick wickets towards the end of the innings.”
It’s not always easy, once there are set batters at the crease: Ajit Agarkar
Further elaborating on his thoughts, Ajit Agarkar pointed out that when Yuzvendra Chahal came on to bowl both Shai Hope and Shamarh Brooks had to spend enough time at the crease to get set. He expressed that when the batters are set, it’s not easy for the bowlers. Ajit Agarkar said,
“It’s not always easy, doesn’t matter how good a bowler you are, once there are set batters at the crease, once there is a little bit of license, these guys have a lot of power. So why not get him in the game early and try and pick up wickets up front.”
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