Former South African captain Shaun Pollock expressed surprise at Team India's batting order in the second T20I defeat against the Proteas at New Chandigarh on December 11. Chasing a massive score of 214 for victory, the hosts lost Shubman Gill in the first over of the run chase.However, in a surprising move, spin-bowling all-rounder Axar Patel walked in at No. 3, ahead of the more established left-hander, Tilak Varma. The move backfired as Axar scored a sluggish run-a-ball 21, causing the required run-rate to skyrocket after the powerplay.Meanwhile, Tilak came into bat at No. 5 and scored a brilliant 34-ball 62, but ran out of time as India fell way short of the target.Talking about India's move to promote Axar to one-drop, Pollock said on Cricbuzz (3:44):"I remember Tilak Varma when he was given an opportunity at No. 3 (in South Africa)and he answered the call. I thought he had secured that spot and they were going to back him at No. 3 and give him a run. So I am surprised he has gone down. And if you are going to promote someone, why not Tilak Varma? Because he has shown that he can really do the job at that spot."Pollock continued:"I don't know if the thinking was if we lose an early wicket, we want to still pull the trigger as much as possible so Axar could go and swing his bat as hard as he can. But he got 21 off 21 so he didn't really manage to do that. So there lies the surprise. But Tilak Varma looked a class above. Every time he tried to play a shot, he did tonight. At the end of the innings, you think if he had gone in at No. 3 and got more balls, he could have done some more damage."It was Axar's first T20I innings at No.3 in 85 outings, and his struggle in a new position was evident from the get-go. Meanwhile, Tilak has been brilliant at one-drop in T20Is, averaging over 55 at a strike rate of 169.73 with two centuries in 13 innings."He kind of got starved of the strike" - Shaun Pollock on Tilak VarmaShaun Pollock believes India's lone warrior in the second T20I, Tilak Varma, was starved of strike in the second half of his innings with the arrival of Hardik Pandya. Despite walking in to bat in the fourth over of the run chase, the southpaw played only 34 of the 92 deliveries India played in their innings.Meanwhile, Hardik could not replicate his heroics from the series opener, scoring a dismal 20 off 23 balls."It was only Tilak Varma who stood tall. It was almost like Tilak Varma couldn't get on strike in the end. Once Hardik got to the crease, he kind of got starved of the strike. At that stage, he was going at a 200 strike rate. You felt like if he faced balls, he might get India back into the chase. But once the run rate required started to get into the 20s, you knew they were done," said Pollock (via the aforementioned source).India's heavy defeat means the five-match series is level at 1-1, with the third T20I to be played at Dharamsala on Sunday, December 14.