‘If they don’t lose early wickets then..’ – Sanjay Manjrekar discusses India’s top defensive batsmen
Former Indian cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar recently opined about the Indian cricket team’s batting order in the ODI and Test format. Manjrekar believes Rohit Sharma has always performed exceptionally well when he gives respect to the initial 10 bowling overs of the innings, which also landed him five centuries in the ODI World Cup 2019.
Sanjay Manjrekar also discussed India’s best top three defensive batsmen, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli. He said when they don’t lose early wickets, these three can make the game their own and nobody can stop them. He also discussed how longer formats like the ODIs and Test cricket differ from T20Is.
“See, fortunately for India, number one, two, and three, when Virat bats at number three, they are three very good test batters. And you might talk about 50 overs being a one-day match and white-ball cricket and all that, but the start of a 50 overs game is not like a T20 match,” said Manjrekar.
Sanjay Manjrekar analyses India’s Test top-order batting lineup
“I think there are some serious test cricket skills needed, and then Rohit Sharma got these five hundred in the last World Cup. I remember him respecting the bowling in the first 10 overs. And these three guys – Gill, Rohit Sharma, and Virat – who have excellent credentials as defensive test batters, that is the game they’ll have to bring. If they don’t lose early wickets, then it’s just their game,” he added.
The Indian cricket team’s former batting coach and 2016 interim head coach Sanjay Bangar also analysed India’s batting lineup while analysing the role and position of KL Rahul in the team ahead of the Asia Cup and ODI World Cup 2023. He discussed Indian team has tested a lot of combinations and sent batters to different positions.
“KL Rahul is a very versatile player, especially when he is played as a batter. Sometimes he has opened the innings, sometimes he has batted at number 5. So, today we got to see a lot of things in this camp. Today, we also saw different pairs of players batting together, like as we have seen in yesterday’s session – Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma were batting in pairs.”
“Today, KL and Rohit were batting together in pairs. Thus, it means the team management might have this thought on their mind that whether KL Rahul can be utilized as an opening batsman. I don’t think this is their first option, but obviously, they want to give their best chance for that, or they want to keep an option with them,” concluded Sanjay Manjrekar.
