Team India captain Rishabh Pant has been slammed right, left, and centre for his decisions in the ongoing five-match T20I home series against South Africa. After being criticised for under bowling leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in the first game in Delhi, Rishabh Pant was back in the firing line, this time for his tactical blunders against the Proteas at Cuttack. India pacer, Ashish Nehra was particularly scathing in his remarks for not giving left-arm spinner Axar Patel a chance to bowl until the 19th over of the South African innings. Before Ashish Nehra, the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Graeme Smith, and Gautam Gambhir had lashed out at him for demoting Dinesh Karthik when India batted in the game.

Unlike the match in Delhi when the Indian cricket team had posted a huge total of 211 on the board, in Cuttack the Men in Blue didn't get going with the bat. After opener Ruturaj Gaikwad lost his wicket just for 1 early on in India's essay, the home team continued to be pegged back with one dismissal after another. In the end, they could only manage a score of 148/6 in the 20 overs of their innings.

Chasing the target, the Proteas did lose a few early wickets with Bhuvneshwar Kumar giving nothing away, but it was the South African wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen who came to the party for the visitors. Smashing the ball to all corners of the ground Heinrich Klaasen went on to make 81 off only 46 deliveries, handing a second consecutive defeat to Rishabh Pant and his boys.

But Ashish Nehra pinned the blame for India's defeat on Rishabh Pant's tactics. Nehra was furious with the Uttarakhand-born cricketer's decision to not hand the ball to Axar Patel even though powerplay overs had long ended and South Africa had been rocked back by Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the start of their run chase.

Unlike Yuzvendra Chahal, who's the other spinner in the team, Axar Patel is known for keeping his line and lengths tight. More often than not he bowls wicket to wicket and the chances of him taking a wicket in sub-continental conditions are quite high.

Yet Rishabh Pant thought otherwise and only introduced him into the attack in the 12th over. While his lone over turned out to be costly as he gave away 19 runs, Ashish Nehra was still not happy with the Indian cricket team captain's decision.

“Changes to the playing XI depend on the conditions in Vizag. Rishabh Pant also needs to take a look. He held back Axar Patel for so long. There were two right-handed batters at that time. I don't see any reason why Axar Patel was not given an over at that time,” Ashish Nehra said on Cricbuzz.

Ex-India stumper Parthiv Patel echoed similar views, saying that a captain must read the game well to make the required changes on the field. Pant though appears to have no clue whatsoever about how to control the proceedings in the middle.

“Reading the game becomes very important in such situations, especially in this format. Klassen was struggling initially, and he had to change gears. Although he played spin really well today, there was a chance to bring in Axar Patel against him,” Parthiv Patel stated.

Earlier, Sunil Gavaskar and Gautam Gambhir had ripped into Pant for sending Axar Patel ahead of Dinesh Karthik when India batted in the game.

“Sometimes there are these labels like ‘finisher'. And when you talk about a finisher you think he will come to bat only after the 15th over. He can't come in the 12th or the 13th over. And we have seen these happen in the IPL as well. Lot of teams have only kept their big hitters for the last 4-5 overs. When actually, if they had been sent earlier, because they have the ability to work things around, they don't necessarily have to hit sixes from the time they come in. The fact that when they get to the batting area and work the ball around, they get the feel of the wicket and they can bat accordingly in the last 4-5 overs,” Sunil Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

“No doubt Dinesh Karthik performed really well but he should have walked out to bat at least before Axar Patel. Normally we say that there are very limited number of balls to face in T20 and most of the batters want to bat up the order. Dinesh Karthik is a player whom you want to keep for the last 3-4 overs. But he had to come early as Hardik Pandya was dismissed but if he should have come ahead of Axar Patel and given himself 10-15 balls, probably he would have done more damage to the opponent. 149 could have been 169 had he given himself the opportunity,” Gautam Gambhir said.

“So moving forward it shouldn't be that Dinesh Karthik is kept for the last three overs. If you are a specialised batter and you're batting at number 6 then it's your job to play in tough situations, give yourself more chances. And inflict the damage in the last three overs,” Gambhir explained.