India vs South Africa: Shreyas Iyer defends batting order - 'Axar Patel sent ahead of Dinesh Karthik to rotate strike'

Axar Patel ahead of India's 'designated finisher' Dinesh Karthik in the second T20 against South Africa but top-order batter Shreyas Iyer defended the strategy, saying the need of the hour was to "rotate strike". India were struggling to get going and were 112/6 when Axar Patel got out in the 17th over, and it was mainly due to the veteran Karthik's cameo while batting at No. 7 that they could post a respectable 148/6. "It's something we had strategised earlier as well. We had seven overs left when Axar went in, and he's someone who can take the singles and keep rotating the strike," Shreyas said at the post-match media interaction on Sunday.

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Heinrich Klaasen capitalised on his chance selection to smash 81 off 46 balls as South Africa beat India by four wickets in the second Twenty20 International for a 2-0 series lead in Cuttack on Sunday. Klaasen, selected after Quinton de Kock sat out with a hand injury, smashed five sixes and seven

"Also, at that point in time, we didn't require someone to go in and start hitting from ball one. DK can obviously do that, but he has been a really good asset for us after 15 overs, where he can go in and start hitting straightaway." Promoted at No. 6, Axar scored 10 off 11 balls before being cleaned up by Anrich Nortje, while Karthik slammed an unbeaten 30 from 21 balls. Shreyas argued that even Karthik had struggled to get his timing right like many others on the day on a two-paced wicket. “Even he was finding it a little bit difficult at the start. The wicket played a huge role in this game. And as for that strategy, we can and we will be going with it in