Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar says he would have picked a much younger Indian team for the T20 World Cup as loading the team with veterans has not worked in the past. Manjrekar said that now India has no choice but to pair Rohit Sharma with Virat Kohli to open the spot, when he would have preferred to add the flavor of the young and talented Yashaswi Jaiswal. Rohit and Kohli did not feature in many of the T20 missions for India last year but returned to the fold when the selectors showed faith in the experienced campaigners.
“Ideally, I wouldn’t have gone that route; I would have stuck with a slightly younger core set of players, but the selectors committed to the icons, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli,” Manjrekar said in Star Sports’ Press Room edition of World Cup on Friday.
“Now that they are in the team, it is impossible to have Virat Kohli batting at number three because then you don’t get Virat’s full rally. Rohit Sharma has to open, so now, India in a way have forced themselves to have just one kind of combination: two right-handers,” he said.
Manjrekar doesn’t think Jaiswal would find a place in the Indian XI.
“Unfortunately, Jaiswal will have to sit out. I would have gone with a completely new batch (and) then it would have had a lot more talent and it would have been something different,” he said.
“(But) India has trusted the elderly in a move that has not worked over the years, we hope it works this time,” Manjrekar added.
The former Indian batsman also dismissed suggestions that Mohammed Amir and Shaheen Shah Afridi would pose a threat to the Indian batsmen in the clash between the two arch-rivals on June 9.
“Mohammed Amir played his last T20 international seven years ago. We have no idea what his form is like today. Shaheen Afridi is not the same bowler he was two years ago.
“India handled him very well, if you remember the Asia Cup, even in the 50s World Cup we had a one-sided match. I don’t see Pakistan as a big threat to India, apart from the names (of) Mohammed Amir and Shaheen Shah Afridi I don’t think this is a problem for India,” he added.
Irfan Pathan, meanwhile, termed left-arm spinner Imad Wasim as a threat.
“As a left-arm spinner with the new ball, he is not bad. He is intelligent, he throws stump to stump and if the ball sticks he can be a threat,” he said.
Manjrekar backed Hardik Pandya to do well as a finisher.
“My vote will always go to Hardik Pandya. I know he had a pretty quiet IPL, but let’s go back to the last T20 World Cup that India played, the last match, semi-finals against England in Adelaide.
“Hardik Pandya hit 60 off 30 balls at a strike rate of 190 after India made 62 in their first 10 overs.
“When it comes to the T20 World Cup – marquee events – support those guys who really stand out on the big stage and for me it will always be Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant ahead of people like Shivam Dubey, until we see him on the big stage,” he said.
Pathan said that Pandya and Dube will play different roles in the competition.
“Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube will play different roles. Hardik will have a defined role to finish the game and Shivam will act as a floater, as a backup against the spinners,” he said.
Manjrekar said India will also be cautious in the first round knowing what happened in the 50th World Cup in the Caribbean where they were knocked out in the first round in 2007.
“India will feel the pressure of the first innings because (in) 2007 (in) the West Indies, funny things (had) happened. I see India functioning very quickly. (But) I will just watch this Indian team in the matches that matter – semi-finals and finals,” he said.
“For India, World Cups are no longer about reaching the final stages. It’s about what you do in the final stages,” he added.
Manjrekar also stated that Kohli tends to bat with added pressure in knockout games due to his height, which is not the case with Rohit.
“Virat takes responsibility. You see it happens in every big game to bat a little longer, maybe he feels obligated because of the kind of stature he has in Indian cricket to bat longer rather than just come and bat freely,” he said.
“But Rohit Sharma will do it no matter his stature. We saw that in the ODI World Cup. But I am really worried about Virat when it comes to semi-finals and finals,” he added.
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