‘Doing his finest to destroy KL Rahul’s profession’: Gambhir faces fury over ‘insane’ Axar Patel promotion in 1st England ODI
Feb 06, 2025 07:29 PM IST
The tactic didn’t sit properly with followers, who reckoned Gautam Gambhir was hurting KL Rahul’s profession by pushing him down the order.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir’s affinity in direction of a left-right mixture noticed Axar Patel get promoted to No. 5 within the batting line-up forward of wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul within the opening ODI match of the three-game collection in opposition to England in Nagpur on Thursday. Nevertheless, the tactic didn’t sit properly with followers, who reckoned Gambhir was hurting Rahul’s profession by pushing him down the order.
Rahul has predominantly been a No. 5 batter in ODI cricket, a shift, made a few years again, which modified his white-ball profession. It additionally noticed him achieve success, which was evident from his spectacular present within the 2023 ODI World Cup. Whereas Rahul was anticipated to play the identical position on Thursday on the VCA Stadium, Gambhir despatched Axar at No. 5 after the dismissal of Shreyas Iyer for 59 off 36.
Regardless of Axar having an honest report with the bat, and having dealt with such promotions with finesse prior to now, the newest being within the T20 World Cup ultimate final 12 months, followers on social media fumed at Gambhir. Listed below are among the reactions…
India set 249-run goal
Debutant quick bowler Harshit Rana and spinner Ravindra Jadeja claimed three wickets every as India folded England for 248 within the collection opener in Nagpur. The competition marked India’s ultimate preparations for the Champions Trophy, which can start on February 19 in Pakistan and Dubai.
England, who opted to bat first, began off on an incredible observe, with opener Phil Salt launching a brutal assault in opposition to Rana, hitting the bowler for 3 sixes and two fours in a 26-run sixth over. Nevertheless, the batter was dismissed after a mid-pitch mix-up with Ben Duckett. Rana then made a comeback, selecting two fast wickets, and England slipped to 77-3 in 10 overs. Regardless of skipper Jos Buttler’s 52, and 51 from Jacob Bethell, the vacationers misplaced wickets in cluster, earlier than being bundled in 47.4 overs.
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