Former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar has not been known for mincing his words mince words and he has also been in trouble in the past for his opinions about big-ticket players. However, but on Wednesday it was time for him to applaud Indian cricketers after their 3rd ODI win over Australia in Canberra. Manjrekar showered praises on Ravindra Jadeja after the latter played a flamboyant knock of 50-ball 66 and helped India seal an inconsequential yet important win in the ODI series finale.
Jadeja also picked up the crucial wicket of the Australian skipper, Aaron Finch who was set for a 3-figure score as he was batting on 75 in chase of 303. The southpaw came out to bat when Virat Kohli was dismissed for 63 as early as the 32nd over., but Jadeja along with Hardik Pandya added 150 runs for the sixth wicket to help India post a winning total of 302.
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During a chat on Sony Six, Sanjay Manjrekar said, “Today, the last 3-4 overs, he was really smart about where he was scoring. Jadeja anticipated the ball well and I loved the fact he was able to score on the off-side, leg-side. I thought he also took some pressure off Hardik Pandya, one of his best one-day innings we have seen in a long time. Only because of his flourish with the bat with Pandya, India were able to compete.”
Manjrekar though said he wants Ravindra Jadeja to be more attacking with the ball in ODIs as the southpaw played in all 3 matches for India but picked up just 1 wicket while conceding at 6 runs per over.
Sanjay Manjrekar elaborated, “I want him to pick more wickets with the ball. I have said this about Jadeja a lot in the last one year, there’s been a steady improvement in the way he has been batting, but his bowling needs to improve a bit more to win matches for India. But purely on his batting performance today, hats off, brilliant.”
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Having opened their account in Australia, India will be looking to stitch a series of wins as they head into the T20I series, starting December 4 in Canberra.
