Former India player turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has named his preferred Indian team for the second Test against England. Notably, he didn’t add Ravindra Jadeja to the side, although he has played the first Test.
The first Test was ended in a draw after the rain played the spoilsport. With this, Team India lost the chance to take a lead in the series as well. However, the pace attack did quite well, especially speedster Jasprit Bumrah, who claimed 9 wickets across innings. During a discussion on Sony Sports, Sanjay Manjrekar has decided to stick with the same top-order as well.
He said: “Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul will be my openers. At No. 3, I will want to play Pujara. We didn’t get to see a lot of his batting in the second innings but I will still want to play him. Then Virat Kohli will be No. 4, Ajinkya Rahane No. 5. A slightly controversial selection because I will like to get a specialist batsman at No.6, some depth in the batting because two or three batsmen are out of form and the ball moves a little as well in England.”
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Sanjay Manjrekar further added: “I feel if Rishabh Pant comes at No. 7, he can prove even more dangerous and can play very well with the tail-enders. I am playing Vihari because the last Test match he played, he batted for 2.5 hours to save India.”
Meanwhile, India had played with four pace bowlers in the first Test, Sanjay Manjrekar picked three seamers and a spinner as well where he named R Ashwin instead of Ravindra Jadeja. However, Jadeja is expected to be there in the second Test as well after his steady fifty at Nottingham. On the other hand, Ashwin can replace Shardul Thakur in the playing XI if the pitch supports spinner more than seamers.
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“I will like to bring in Ashwin, who I feel was dropped wrongly in the first match. I am bringing a bowler who has greater chances of taking wickets on a good pitch. I will play three seamers – Shami, Bumrah. I don’t know if Ishant is fit but I will go with Siraj because he has the capability to take five wickets,” Sanjay Manjrekar concluded.
