Launching a scathing attack on Indian cricket culture, Sanjay Manjrekar criticized the decision to make changes for underperforming captain Rohit Sharma at the cost of the team’s balance for the ongoing Boxing Day Test against Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Manjrekar highlighted the growing trend of prioritizing the return of iconic players to form over maintaining a stable lineup, and feels that India’s trend has been altering the team dynamic. The former Indian batsman’s comments came after a couple of changes in the Indian team failed in the must-win fourth Test against Australia.
Sanjay Manjrekar highlights Rohit Sharma’s return as opener, urges India to prioritize performance over big names
Rohit Sharma has actually returned to his regular opening position despite struggling in the middle order with just 19 runs in three innings in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, where he missed the first Test against Australia in Perth.
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Since the captain of the Indian cricket team returned to his starting position, KL Rahul, who had been the team’s most consistent opener in the ongoing five-match Test series, was moved to number three, breaking their successful partnership with Yashasvi Jaiswal for the crucial Boxing. Test of the day.
The change in the batting order did not yield the result they expected as Rohit was dismissed cheaply for 3 runs while KL Rahul could only make 24 runs against Australia in the ongoing fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Melbourne. Apart from these changes, India also played an additional all-rounder in Washington Sundar for whom they dropped Shubman Gill.
We make all kinds of adjustments to give opportunities to iconic players: Sanjay Manjrekar
According to Wisden, Sanjay Manjrekar said during the commentary: “A theme that is deeply connected to Indian cricket culture is that all those iconic players in India fight for runs, and then we do everything we can to make sure he comes. take shape again.
“We make all kinds of adjustments to provide the best kind of platform or opportunity for iconic players. A situation where KL Rahul has been the best opener for both sides, India’s most consistent batsman; he is being displaced from his position, batting at number 3, so that Rohit Sharma gets a chance to get fit.”
Meanwhile, Sanjay Manjrekar questioned the logic behind replacing KL Rahul with Rohit Sharma in the top order and pointed out that the Karnataka batsman had been thriving at the top order in Australia and had even formed a record-breaking partnership with Yashasvi Jaiswal in the Test. from Perth.
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Sanjay Manjrekar says India risked team performance because of Rohit Sharma’s ego
The cricket expert said the Indian team management’s attempts to help struggling players like Rohit Sharma regain their form are understandable, but they should not have risked the team’s performance, especially in such a high-stakes game. He also argued that the team’s best interests should have come first, rather than valuing the egos of big names.
Manjrekar signed off saying, “KL Rahul has been very good in that position. It’s not easy to open up in Australia. Jaiswal and KL Rahul had a record partnership for India in Australia, but India were only too happy to break that partnership to allow a big-name player to succeed. In Australia, when you found an opener who looked good, pushing him to No.3 to get a big-name player woefully out of form to open, I thought it was just a bad decision.”