The veteran commentator, Sanjay Manjrekar reckons that India‘s middle order might become the reason for India’s downfall in 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. Giving the reason behind his comment, Manjrekar said that very few players have put their hands up and that the inability of Virat Kohli‘s team-mates to bat like him in ODIs is a big concern.
Picking his squad of 15 for the World Cup in England, Manjrekar left out Ambati Rayudu – the man who has been performing the no.4 duties for India for over six months – and “grudgingly” included Vijay Shankar and Kedar Jadhav.
Describing the same in his recent column for ESPNCricinfo, Manjrekar wrote, “The current issue with India’s likely World Cup team is that only the captain can bat as per the needs of the situation. Kohli is like a warranty card for India. He is just a champion batsman who wins games for his teams. I am hearing some state-level coaches murmur that whatever the format, young batsmen these days want to project themselves as T20 batsmen lest they get slotted as non-T20 players. This is interesting and perhaps one of the reasons why India don’t have a dependable No. 4. What’s really baffling is that with someone as iconic and inspirational as Kohli around, why don’t others want to bat like him?”
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The No 4 slot has been a problem for India, with as many as 11 players batted at that slot in the last three years. Rayudu got the most innings (16) followed by Yuvraj Singh (10), Dinesh Karthik (9), MS Dhoni (7), Manish Pandey (6), Hardik Pandya and Ajinkya Rahane (5), KL Rahul and Jadhav (3) and Kohli and Rishabh Pant (1).
Assessing the batsmen who were given opportunities but failed to make that spot their own, former Indian cricketer singled out the ability to absorb pressure as the key.
Sanjrekar elaborated, “Whether its Pandey, Rayudu, Karthik, Jadhav, Rishabh Pant or Vijay, they all depend too much on the big shot to get out of a tight corner. From what I have seen, Pant tends to miss half the time when trying to hit big. Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rayudu and Co never did this enough for the selectors to keep faith in them. Jadhav is a little better off here and his offspinners help him out. The problem with all the contenders we have seen for Nos. 4 and 5 has been their consistency and ability.”
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Manjrekar did not see Rayudu – who registered the scores of 13, 18 and 2 was dropped from India’s XI during the recent Australia series – going to the World Cup and expressed concern over Jadhav.
The veteran cricket analyst explained, “After a good score, the way Rayudu gets bowled off a ball that has moved off the seam ruins all the good work he had done until then. Same with Jadhav. If India is 20 for 3, it’s hard to see him handling a spell of good seam bowling in England with composure, showing good defense, ticking off singles whenever he can, building a partnership and then, in the last few overs, going for the big shots.”
