Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar questioned Rohit Sharma’s decision to send Washington Sundar into bat before Sarfaraz Khan in the second innings of the second Test against New Zealand in Pune as well. Describing the tactic as a bizarre one, he urged the Indian captain not to think much in T20-style about match-ups in Test cricket as well. Notably, Team India lost to New Zealand by 113 runs in the second Test in Pune.

Talking about this, Sanjay Manjrekar said on  ESPNCricinfo (as quoted by news agency PTI: “The move to have Sarfaraz Khan bat down the order and sending Washington Sundar above him because he is a left-hander, those kind of things shouldn’t happen. It’s just bizarre. That’s one thing that Rohit Sharma needs to be careful of … the T20 thinking of match-ups left hand-right hand combinations. I think he should just go by the overall quality and ability of players.”

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“I will still maintain that the coach has the minimal influence on a team, lesser than your 11th weakest player. He does not set foot on the ground, the captain is in-charge out there. But you have to applaud him for Washington Sundar’s selection, which was an immediate hit. But the move to send Washington ahead of Sarfaraz Khan or maybe four spinners here would have made more sense. But to put any kind of responsibility on the door of Gautam Gambhir would be terribly unfair because until now we can’t do it because in cricket, a coach has minimal influence on performances,” Sanjay Manjrekar further added.

Playing his first Test in nearly three years, Sundar did well, registering his career-best figures of 7-59 in the first innings in Pune and followed up with 4-56 in the second innings as well.