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Team India fans are all excited for the Champions Trophy final to be played on March 9, and ahead of the final clash team India’s head coach, Gautam Gambhir has discussed the reason behind shuffling India’s batting order. He said that Axar Patel’s batting at number 5 allows him to express himself and exhibit his talent to the world.
India has been undefeated in the tournament so far and on the other hand, New Zealand has only defeated once, that too against India. Although, New Zealand has looked rock solid with bat and ball under Mitchell Santner’s captaincy. Especially, the way they played in the semifinal against South Africa at Lahore. The final match is going to be a chance for India to avenge the 2000 Champions Trophy final.
India has played all its matches at a single venue Dubai as they were not allowed to travel to Pakistan, due to both countries bilateral relations. It has generated some controversy in cricketing circles, with ex-cricketers like Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton being among the personalities having alleged that this schedule advantage is helping India by reducing their travel time and knowing the conditions of the same venue.
Gambhir’s views on Axar Patel coming to bat no. 5
“We have answered it before that we don’t care what people say. I think he’s a quality player, and it is important. This is how cricket is meant to be played, and this is how we will play the sport. This is how we will continue playing the sport. We know the quality and ability Axar has, and we’re going to keep giving him that opportunity at number five so that he can keep performing and, more importantly, keep expressing and keep showing his talent to the world,” Gambhir said at the post-match press conference on Tuesday night.
Gambhir on KL Rahul’s batting order
Gambhir also addressed the selection of players at the batting order and why KL Rahul is being sent (at No. 6) after Axar Patel. “You know, in a sport like cricket and in a team sport, numbers don’t matter, batting positions don’t matter, it’s the impact that matters. You should only be thinking of picking yourself in the playing 11, and rest whatever is needed of you to do it for the team you should be happily doing it and KL has done that and KL has done that really happily and he’s done that really well at number six as well. People keep talking about it, I don’t know for how long they’ve been talking about it, why we’ve pushed KL at number six,” Gambhir said.
“Just we feel that he gives us more depth, and that is how we want to play the game. And the conversations which I’ve had with him or the conversations which I’ve had with everyone are exactly the same. In a team sport, especially in cricket and in this format, we are not going to talk about batting positions. We’re going to talk about how we can create that impact and what is needed of the team. We’ll continue doing that,” he added.
(With Inputs from ANI)
Also Read: Will Matt Henry Play The Champions Trophy Final? New Zealand Await Fitness Update
