Sanjay Manjrekar has said that he doesn’t see Ravichandran Ashwin playing in their World Cup 2023 clash against Afghanistan if the game is played on a flat surface as well. Both sides will play against each other at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday, October 11. The last game at the venue saw South Africa put up a massive total of 428-5, with Sri Lanka scoring 326 as well.
During a discussion on Star Sports, Manjrekar said: “My view is that unless there is a compelling reason, I don’t like Hardik Pandya as your third seamer. I think he also feels the pressure if he is the third seamer. What is likely to happen is that if the pitch is similar to the one that we had in that South Africa-Sri Lanka game, which was a belter, there was nothing there for the spinners, I don’t see Ashwin playing on that surface.”
However, Sanjay Manjrekar sees either Shardul Thakur or Mohammed Shami will replace the veteran off-spinner in the playing XI as well.
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“India will add more batting depth unless they feel that they will get in pace quality against Afghanistan on this flat pitch. But they have shown their cards very early coming into the World Cup. They are not very keen to go one batter short. Shardul Thakur or Mohammed Shami is the change that I see if that’s the exact same surface that we get in Delhi.”
Meanwhile, R Ashwin was included in India’s World Cup squad as a last-minute injury replacement for Axar Patel and he registered figures of 1-34 in 10 overs in India’s six-wicket victory in their World Cup opener against Australia as well. However, former New Zealand seamer Simon Doull added that Mohammed Shami should replace R Ashwin in India’s playing XI as well.
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“I was very surprised they didn’t play Shami in the first game. I know (Mohammed) Siraj is gun and (Jasprit) Bumrah is there, but I still think Shami is one of the better seamers in the world at the moment. So, it’s a great problem to have for them. I just wonder on the smaller ground whether the spinner might be left out for a seamer,” he added.
