Former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar has come forward and stated that Team India will be dearly missing the absence of KL Rahul during the upcoming one-off Test match against England. Rahul was in good form for the Indian team last year as he scored 315 runs in the four matches he played and his highest score was 129.

However, a groin injury has ruled him out of the team to play the one-off Test and Sanjay Manjrekar reckons that it is a big blow for the Indian team. Speaking in a media interaction arranged by Sony Sports, the commentator said that batting will be a big challenge for Rohit Sharma and his men at Edgbaston despite having resources to replace the injured opener.

Explaining the same, Sanjay Manjrekar said, “This time around, with KL Rahul missing out, it’s a massive setback for India. But there is hope in the selection of Shreyas Iyer, if he gets a game and hopefully, Hanuma Vihari figures as well; Cheteshwar Pujara is making a comeback.”

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He further added, “India has the resources to fill that void. But when you look at India’s seam bowling, there is quality there and quality options as well for them to choose from apart from two spinners. Batting, like last time, will be the big challenge.”

Sanjay Manjrekar said that since India hasn’t played in England for almost a year, the challenge will be to score 300 runs in the first innings and put on another big score in the second one.

Former Indian cricketer explained, “Because it’s a one-off Test match and India haven’t played one in a long time in England as they are going there after one year. The team management and all of us know that the big challenge for India is to get minimum 300 runs in the first innings and hopefully, another big score in the second innings.”

The commentator also expressed his concern about the batting lineup of India, saying that the top five or six haven’t been in the best of forms.

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Sanjay Manjrekar explained, “Whatever the team composition is planned out, they will always be looking to address the batting issues and with KL Rahul missing being a huge blow for India, if you look at the top five or six, you sort of worried about the batting as you don’t have a situation where you have a number three, four, five, all in great form and recent form playing in foreign conditions.”