CUTTACK: It may have looked odd to send 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.