India vs New Zealand's second ODI match concluded in a disrupted manner. The Men in Blue won the match by 4 runs using the DLS method, taking a 0-2 lead in the series. During the match, Axar Patel was sent in at No.5 to bat, and Gautam Gambhir was criticized for the same; however, former captain Sunil Gavaskar backed the decision.

The Men in Blue have been in good form, especially in the inexperienced bowling attack of Gurnoor Brar, Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi and Arshdeep Singh, who have done well in the bowling-friendly conditions and restricted the New Zealand National Cricket Team to under 200 runs in the first two games, showcasing their talent in the SENA countries.

"The bowlers have slight difficulty if a left-handed batter comes": Sunil Gavaskar explains why Axar Patel was sent ahead of KL Rahul

While speaking on Sony Sports Network, Sunil Gavaskar backed India National Cricket Team head coach Gautam Gambhir for promoting Axar Patel to No.5 over KL Rahul. He believes that if there is a left-handed batter at the crease, the bowlers also have difficulty bowling, as their line and length continuously change, given one right-handed and one left-handed batter at the crease.

"The bowlers have slight difficulty if a left-handed batter comes because you have to change the line and length you would have for a right-hander. In trying to do that, your line can change slightly even to the right-hander, where more chances of getting runs are created," Gavaskar explained, speaking on Sony Sports network after the game (as quoted by TOI).

"There was nothing wrong with that thought process": Sunil Gavaskar shuts down critics of Gautam Gambhir

Gavaskar, while backing Gautam Gambhir for pushing Axar Patel up the order, further stated that if Axar Patel had scored runs in that position, then the fans and the experts would have said good captaincy, and he believes that sometimes these moves work and sometimes they do not, as he stated that the management knows that KL Rahul is behind Axar, who is a strong batter.

"There was nothing wrong with that thought process. If Axar had scored runs, you would have said how good the captaincy was. Such moves work at times and don't work on other occasions, and it didn't work this time. You also knew there was a solid player like Rahul after him. That's why you experiment at times," he added.

India bowlers dominated in 2nd ODI

Coming to the match, India, after winning the toss, chose to bowl first. New Zealand batters yet again struggled to score runs on a pitch that had too much bounce. They were reduced to 55/5 at one stage, and then Daryl Mitchell’s 55 and Mitchell Santner’s 31 helped them go past 100 as they were bowled out for 134 runs.

Shubman Gill was dismissed for a golden duck while chasing the target, and Virat Kohli also failed to impress as he was back for 7 runs. Rohit Sharma tried to stitch the innings, but a reckless shot sent him back to the pavilion for 23 runs. Axar Patel scored seven, and Shreyas Iyer was well set and scored a fighting 30 runs. KL Rahul played a knock of 26* runs.

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