Former Indian national cricket team coach Sanjay Bangar has praised captain Rohit Sharma for not using all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja much in the group stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
India played well and entered the Super 8 stage of the ICC T20 World Cup without any contribution from all-rounder Jadeja. He took no wickets, scored no runs, picked no catches or inflicted any runs for India.
Jadeja was part of the XI in all three matches India were able to play, but captain Rohit Sharma did not trust him much with the ball and instead preferred Axar Patel’s spin bowling.
Rohit Sharma gave just three overs to Ravindra Jadeja and failed to get any wicket for the team. The Indian captain completely neglected the all-rounder when they took the field to compete against the United States as he was not given a single over. That decision by Rohit Sharma surprised many as they felt that Jadeja is no longer the first choice for the team as preference will be given to Axar Patel from now on.
However, Ravindra Jadeja will most likely get more opportunities with the ball at the Super 8 stage as the matches will be held in the West Indies where the pitches offer a lot of assistance to the spinners.
He targeted the bowler who was considered most effective – Sanjay Bangar over Rohit Sharma.
Recently, Sanjay Bangar spoke about Rohit Sharma’s bowling rotation in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on Star Sports. He opined that Axar was preferred over Jadeja because of the extra bounce off the surface. He also praised captain Rohit Sharma for not giving in to Jadeja based on his reputation and trusting Axar to get the job done.
“You have to give credit to the team management for using horses for the pitches. Why wasn’t Jadeja used and why was Axar used on a pitch that had a bit of bounce? That’s where the answer is. If there is bounce extra, Axar Obviously he is a little bit taller. He hits the ball higher with the bat and you have to give credit to Rohit, the captain, because it wasn’t really based on his pedigree or reputation He went to the bowler who was considered more effective or. who. would probably be more effective on those surfaces,” Bangar said on Star Sports ahead of India’s first Super 8 clash against Afghanistan.
India used a combination of 3 pacers and 2 spinners in the matches played in the United States. That is most likely to change when they head to the West Indies as a pacer could be replaced by a spinner, which could be Kuldeep Yadav, who has undoubtedly been India’s best white-ball spinner in recent months.
While talking about Kuldeep Yadav’s exclusion, Sanjay Bangar stated that the Indian team management is following the West Indies strategy and will depend more on the finger-spinners.
“So, I think the Indian team’s campaign has been quite successful. Let’s hope that in these conditions, the finger spin is effective. Because if you look at the West Indies team and they know these conditions better than any other team because They play a lot of cricket here, are they using Akeal Hossein and Gudakesh Motie,” Bangar concluded.
