IND vs SA 2nd T20: When Hardik Pandya was bowled by Wayne Parnell, India had been reduced to 90 for 4 in the 13th over against South Africa in the second T20I in Cuttack. Dinesh Karthik had been slotted in at No 6 but he was held back as India decided to send in Axar Patel instead. While Patel could manage only 10 off 11 deliveries, Karthik, who arrived at No 7 with five overs left, overcame a slow start to knock an unbeaten 30 off 21. However, India could only post 148 for 6 in a four-wicket defeat. After the game, Shreyas Iyer said that India would continue to preserve Karthik for the death overs, although the decision came in for criticism from former South Africa captain Graeme Smith in the post-match broadcast analysis. “It's definitely something we have strategised earlier as well. We had seven overs left and Axar Patel is someone who can take singles, who can keep rotating the strike,” Iyer explained in the post-match press conference. “And we didn't require someone to come in and start hitting from ball one at that point of time. Even DK can do that obviously but DK has been a really good asset for us after 15 overs where he can come and straightaway slog the ball,” Iyer added. “Even he found it difficult to start well. Obviously, the wicket played a huge role in the game, but we will be using this strategy in the next games as well." Like the batters who’d preceded him, Karthik found the going tough too on a two-paced wicket with variable bounce. He was on just 8 off 15 balls deep into the 19th over, before he got a couple of fours away off Anrich Nortje, and then swung two sixes off Dwaine Pretorius in the last over. Iyer, who felt 160 could have been a good score, said that conditions were tough for batting and despite playing 35 deliveries in the middle for his 40, he hadn’t been able to figure out how exactly the pitch was behaving. “I tried everything out there, but it was really difficult, especially for the new batsman to come in and get going,” Iyer said. “The ball was staying low from one end and from the other end, there was variable bounce and the ball was seaming.”
