Furious former cricketers have slammed Rishabh Pant's decision to promote Axar Patel at the expense of Dinesh Karthik in Team India's defeat to South Africa in the second T20I at Cuttack's Barabati Stadium on Sunday. Rishabh Pant's captaincy has been under fire in the whole series and it came under heavy scrutiny yet again after the Indian cricket team suffered their second consecutive loss in the five-match series against the Proteas. And India's loss in Odisha was blamed on Rishabh Pant's decision to send Axar Patel ahead of Dinesh Karthik to bat in the Indian innings with the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, former South Africa captain Graeme Smith and India's World Cup winner Gautam Gambhir all ripping into Rishabh Pant for not reading the match situation correctly.

Unlike the first match in Delhi where the hosts had made a quick start, Team India began on a bad note, losing opener Ruturaj Gaikwad early in the innings for 1. Though Ishan Kishan and Shreyas somewhat steadied the ship with their 45-run partnership, India found themselves in a deep hole after losing three quick wickets.

First Anrich Nortje sent back the dangerous Ishan Kishan for 34 and then Keshav Maharaj got the big wicket of Rishabh Pant. Wayne Parnell subsequently rubbed salt on injury as he castled the in-form Hardik Pandya for 9. With wickets falling at regular intervals, India slipped to 90/4 in the 13th over.

With seven overs still left in the Indian innings, Rishabh Pant chose to promote Axar Patel despite having Dinesh Karthik in the line-up.

The Indian captain's decision baffled many, considering Dinesh Karthik is not just the most-experienced batter in the Indian team at the moment but has been in prime form as well.

Before making his return to the national squad after a gap of 3 years, Dinesh Karthik had earned plaudits for his performances in the Indian Premier League. Playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Dinesh Karthik had amassed 330 runs in 16 games at an excellent strike rate of over 183 in the competition.

Rishabh Pant's decision to send Axar Patel, however, backfired as he lost his wicket to Anrich Nortje for 9. Dinesh Karthik finally came out to bat and struck an unbeaten 30 off 21 balls to give the Indian total some respectability.

Sunil Gavaskar, who was commentating on the match, later joined a discussion on Star Sports in which he was seen lashing out at Rishabh Pant.

The former India captain said that while there was no doubt that Dinesh Karthik was the designated “finisher” in the team, he can be sent to bat according to the match situation. He pointed out that instead of holding him back for the slog overs, Rishabh Pant should have sent him after the fall of Hardik Pandya's wicket because it would have allowed Dinesh Karthik to pace his knock even better.

“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.

South African icon Graeme Smith didn't have words to describe Rishabh Pant's tactics and highlighted Dinesh Karthik's recent run of form to criticise the Indian captain.

“I don't understand. When Karthik is one of the most experienced cricketers in India. Look at how many games he has played for India. Never mind the IPL. How can you send Axar Patel ahead of him. This is mind blowing,” he said.

The hero of Team India's 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup triumphs, Gautam Gambhir didn't agree with Rishabh Pant's strategy either.

“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 summed up.