"It's not going to be easy" - Sanjay Manjrekar on Ravindra Jadeja finding a place in the Indian playing XI for the T20 World Cup
Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar reckons that all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja won’t find it easy to get a place in the playing XI for the T20 World Cup considering the competition for spots in the team. According to Manjrekar, Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya’s successful return to the Indian T20I squad has made things a bit trickier for Jadeja.
Jadeja did not have a good IPL 2022 for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and was also embroiled in some controversy over the captaincy. He further missed the last few games of the season due to injury. On the other hand, the recalled Karthik and Pandya impressed during the T20Is against South Africa at home.
In a chat with Firstpost during a virtual interaction organized by Sony Sports, Manjrekar shared his views about India’s all-round strength and said:
“Clearly, Dinesh Karthik has shown that he can be a number 6 or 7 as a pure batter. The impact that he is making is phenomenal and we saw that in T20Is against South Africa and also in the IPL. So, it’s not really going to be easy for Jadeja to come in and take his place and India might settle in with somebody like Axar Patel.”
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Manjrekar added:
“The side now has Hardik Pandya, Karthik batting down the order. Rishabh Pant is also there so it’s not going to be easy for him. But knowing the kind of player Jadeja is, he will be making sure that the headache doesn’t get less for the selectors.”
Jadeja is currently with the Indian team in the UK as part of the squad for the rescheduled Test against England, which begins in Birmingham on July 1.
“Wait and watch with Rishabh Pant” - Sanjay Manjrekar on maverick keeper-batter
Young keeper-batter Rishabh Pant had a poor T20I series against South Africa at home while leading the team. In the preceding IPL 2022 as well, he failed to register a single half-century.
Admitting that Pant is still a work in progress in the limited-overs formats, Manjrekar commented:
“Rishabh Pant has made number four his place (During the South Africa series). Although, I thought Hardik Pandya should have batted at that position after the way he performed in the IPL. Ishan Kishan at the top and number four will be totally different. We haven’t seen him at that position and that’s not an easy position to bat on.”
Concluding his thoughts on Pant, the 56-year-old admitted that he will be under some pressure. Manjrekar opined:
“The kind of performances that we have seen from all the guys, Rishabh Pant will feel the pressure of having to perform. My thing is wait and watch with Rishabh Pant because he is different, enigmatic and he has shown it at Test level. He is a remarkable player. But in the white-ball cricket, he is someone who is still in the process of telling exactly what kind of a player he is.”
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Pant ended the T20I series against South Africa with a mere 58 runs at an average of 14.50 and a poor strike rate of 105.45.