Cricket Legends Question India’s Frequent Batting Position Shuffle, Warns it Could Cost Them at the T20 World Cup

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India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and coach Gautam Gambhir came under the scanner for promoting Axar Patel to No. 3 during the second T20I match against South Africa in New Chandigarh. Commentators Dale Steyn and Robin Uthappa blasted Gambhir and Suryakumar for these ‘logicless experiments’ before the T20I World Cup.

India’s Batting Disaster

Chasing 214, India lost vice-captain Shubman Gill to his first-ever international golden duck in the opening over. Suryakumar was expected to walk in at No. 3, but in a surprising call, Axar Patel was promoted. The move failed as Axar managed a run-a-ball 21. Suryakumar, already under pressure amid a lean patch in T20Is, came in at No. 4 and departed for 5 off 4 balls.

India lost three early wickets in the power play and never recovered despite a fighting half-century from Tilak Varma (62 off 34), who came in to bat at No.5. 

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Robin Uthappa’s Furious Criticism

Speaking on JioHotstar after the match, Uthappa was furious with the experimentation, even taking a swipe at Suryakumar’s pre-series remark that India have no fixed batting positions apart from the openers. 

“Well, honestly, that’s not how I see it. I’m only going by his words. In the pre-series press conference, he said the opening pair is set, but everyone else is moving pieces who must be flexible. With all due respect, I disagree. When you’re chasing a big score, your solid batters, your best batters, should walk in. If you send a pinch-hitter, then he must play like one. If Axar was sent as a pinch-hitter today, he shouldn’t have scored 21 off 21; he should’ve gone hard and gotten out trying. But even that plan doesn’t convince me. After losing a top batter in the first or second over, you need stability at the crease. Something feels off here, and India must fix it before it becomes a habit," the former T20 World Cup winner said.

“Your top three must be fixed, whether you’re setting a total or chasing one. These are specialist roles. Flexibility has its place, but that comes after the first six overs, once you’ve built a foundation. You can’t build that foundation when players don’t know their roles on a given day,” Uthappa said.

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Uthappa urged Gambhir to fix the top three, “Using a pinch-hitter is fine only in the right scenario, for example, if Abhishek gets out early and you maintain the left-right combination while still sending your best batter. Had he come in at one-drop, he would’ve gotten around 60 balls; instead, he walked in at No. 4. This constant experimentation has been going on for a while, and I worry it will hurt India at a crucial stage of a major tournament. You don’t want that happening at a World Cup.”

Dale Steyn Questioned India’s Tactics

Former Proteas fast bowler Dale Steyn, who was part of the discussion as well, said India had “thrown Axar to the wolves with the move,” arguing that the team “overcomplicated a simple situation by not sending their best batter in a crunch chase.”

“He’s supposed to be your best batter. That’s not a trial-and-error situation; that’s just a major mistake in my opinion. And yes, Axar can bat, but sending him there felt like throwing him to the wolves. What was the role? If he walked in to slog from ball one, fine. Or if Abhishek had gotten out first and you wanted to maintain a left-right combination, that also makes sense,” Steyn added.

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“But it was a right-hander who got out, and you ended up with two left-handers at the top. A lot of question marks there. Perhaps there’s experimentation happening, similar to what's happening in South Africa. But tonight, in a match where you could’ve gone 2–1 up, I’d have sent your best batters and kept things simple," the South Africa legend also mentioned.

Suryakumar Defends Team Tactics

"We just thought in the last game, we had seen Axar bat really well in the longer format. And we wanted him to bat back the same way today as well. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, but he did bat well. But we will see what's up for us going on in the next game," Suryakumar Yadav said in the post-match presentation after India's 51-run defeat.

Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said in the press conference, “We are trying things combination-wise, we've got eight or nine games now before the World Cup. And I guess again, being quite frank, we found ourselves being 35 for three more times than we would have liked in the last couple of months".

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"So it's just an exploration into how we can extend the batting, you know, the link between the openers and the guys we want to come in and smash it around, maybe when things do get a little bit tricky," Doeschate added.

South Africa scored 213-4 after losing the toss before dismissing India for 162 in 19.1 overs to level the five-match series at 1-1. The third fixture will be played in Dharamsala on Sunday (December 14, 2025).