3 Indian players who flopped in the 4th T20I vs West Indies
Team India continued their impressive comeback in the five-match series against West Indies, clinching the fourth T20I by nine wickets at Lauderhill in Florida on Saturday, August 12.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was the chief architect of India's win as he notched up his maiden T20I half-century, an unbeaten 84, with the help of 11 fours and three sixes. He put on 165 for the opening wicket with Shubman Gill, who made 77.
In the bowling department, Arshdeep Singh led the way with three wickets. Kuldeep Yadav was arguably the pick of the bowlers, with two scalps and a team-best economy rate of 6.5.
Others, however, failed to deliver in the contest. Here are three Indian players who flopped in the fourth T20I against West Indies.
#3 Axar Patel
Axar Patel hasn't been at his absolute best in the series so far, with no principal contributions in either department. His bowling has been slightly off the mark, and that reflected in the fourth T20I.
With an eye on shielding Axar from Nicholas Pooran, Hardik Pandya opted to use three overs of his spin-bowling all-rounder in the powerplay. Unfortunately, though, the left-arm spinner lost his lines and lengths quite often and ended up conceding two fours and two sixes in those three overs.
Axar returned to complete his quota in the 15th over and was hammered for another six, although he managed to prise out the offender, Romario Shepherd, off the very next delivery. He finished with disappointing figures of 1/39 despite bowling to only right-handers for three of his four overs.
#2 Yuzvendra Chahal
Yuzvendra Chahal started the T20I series on a good note, scalping four wickets in the first two matches in Trinidad and Guyana respectively. However, the veteran spinner's form has dwindled in recent matches, as has been the pattern over the last few years.
Chahal was brought into the attack in the fourth over, with two right-handers at the crease. Instead of attempting to keep things tight and get through the over, he tossed the ball up prodigiously and tried to invite lofted strokes.
The leg-spinner got what he wanted as Shai Hope and Brandon King danced down the track, but he was smacked for a six and a four. Hope, who isn't known for his spin-hitting, particularly in the T20 format, took a liking to Chahal, hitting him for another couple of boundaries later in his spell.
Chahal didn't look like providing a breakthrough at any point and was rather lucky to have Hope caught at long-on with two balls remaining in his spell. India need to seriously consider moving past the 33-year-old, who doesn't offer much to the side.
#1 Hardik Pandya
On paper, Hardik Pandya didn't have much to do in Florida. He bowled only one over and wasn't needed with the bat as India lost just one wicket in their chase of 179.
However, why doesn't the Indian skipper attempt to take on responsibility when the conditions are tough to bowl in? Hardik let Axar bowl three overs in the powerplay without taking the new ball as he often does, with India not getting any tangible results from any of the left-arm spinner's overs.
The only over Hardik bowled went for 14 runs as Shimron Hetmyer smacked a six and a four. He never bowled again even though bouncers and cutters seemed to be the way to go on the surface. His other bowling changes were rather questionable as well.
Hardik has spoken about leading from the front, but the manner in which he has approached that has been anything but encouraging.