Sanjay Manjrekar. (Photo Source: Instagram)
Sanjay Manjrekar has backed Rohit Sharma’s opinion that India can’t drop a pacer to accommodate a spinner as the quicker men will be crucial during the Asia Cup and the subsequent World Cup. India named their Asia Cup squad on August 21 and the 2023 World Cup squad is most likely going to be picked from the same pool of players. Since the announcement, the cricket fraternity has discussed and dissected the squad which has seen some surprise inclusions and exclusions.
While the young and talented Tilak Varma was one of the biggest surprise picks in the side, the exclusion of experienced leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal raised many eyebrows. Indian conditions are considered to be best suited for spin bowling. India have picked Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel as the spin-bowling all-rounders while Kuldeep Yadav is the only frontline spinner in the squad.
Meanwhile, Manjrekar pointed out that spinners did not make much of an impact when MS Dhoni’s men won the 2011 World Cup which was jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. The former cricketer opined that the pitches could be flat during the upcoming World Cup and there would be the tendency to bowl pacers more than spinners to control the game.
“When India won in 2011, do we remember spinners getting a lot of wickets? It was just Yuvraj Singh in the middle that was used. People like Munaf Patel made an impact. Zaheer (Khan) led the attack. Small grounds and you see certain kind of pitches in the Test series that India plays at home. But come the World Cup, the curators will be working extra hard. You are generally going to see flat belters; some grounds are going to be small. So your tendency is sort of to go towards the fast bowlers to control the game,” Manjrekar on the Star Sports/ESPN Cricinfo’s ‘Selection Day Live’ programme.
India begin their Asia Cup campaign on September 2 against arch-rivals Pakistan. The two teams are placed in Group A in the six-team tournament. Debutants Nepal are the third team in the group.