Sanjay Manjrekar was happy with KL Rahul‘s captaincy in the first innings of the 3rd India-South Africa ODI in Cape Town. After opting to bowl first, India kept the has settled to 287, taking all ten wickets for the first time.
Manjrekar welcomed Rahul for turning to part-timer Shreyas Iyer to bowl during the hosts were cruising. Despite Iyer conceding 21 runs in his 3-wicketless overs, Manjrekar saw it as a sign of Rahul being further open to new ideas, specifically after his much-criticized use of Venkatesh Iyer in the first game.
During the mid-innings break, Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo:
“Slightly different captaincy from KL Rahul. Going to Shreyas Iyer was a great idea. Eventually, how it panned out was another matter, but at least he was looking at going into areas he wasn’t looking to go [earlier]. This guy didn’t go to an obvious sixth bowling option in Venky Iyer in the first One-Day, but this time, he was able to go the Shreyas Iyer and see what he’s got. In the end, he bowled three overs which allowed him to not bowl (Deepak) Chahar too much towards the end.”
The former cricketer also shed light on the overall view of the 6th-bowler conundrum. Manjrekar stated that unlike the Indian squad of the past, none of the top-order batters from the current crop could chip in with few overs, even on dry wickets.
Manjrekar explained:
“It was nice that that idea was thought of. Maybe Rahul Dravid had something to do with it. But what’s interesting about this Indian outfit is the batters they have in the team, and I am not just talking about this squad. In the last one to two years, none of them chip in with three to four overs of bowling, especially on dry pitches like we had in the first two ODIs… That’s got to be the quest for India with the 50-overs team – if they can’t find the obvious sixth bowling option, if you can’t find wicket-takers in the middle, then ensure that you’ve got pure batters who walk into the team on that one discipline can [also] chip in with some bowling.”
Seen Shreyas Iyer bowling for the first time.#indvsa #indvsSA #SavInd #Savsind #ShreyasIyer pic.twitter.com/2dKBrZ6KzY
— Yogen (45) (@frontFootPuller) January 23, 2022
“India picked a horrible team in the first couple of ODIs,” – Sanjay Manjrekar said
https://twitter.com/GoatViratKohli/status/1485191104379355138
When asked to Manjrekar to comment on the better ‘energy’ shown by the players in Centurion, Manjrekar answered he wasn’t a big fan of the word.
He instead credited India’s improvement to better squad selection, remarking that the first 2-ODIs saw ‘terrible’ playing 11s. Manjrekar replied:
“I am not a big supporter of this energy thing. Poor KL Rahul also had to clear his position, saying that there’s a lot of energy in the team and stuff like that. These are nice words that the team is not doing well that ‘there wasn’t much energy in the field.’ … But I guess what is really important for teams to win matches is first to pick the right playing 11. I thought India picked a terrible team in the first couple of ODIs. A slightly better bowling attack [played today], and we saw the impact immediately.”
Also read:- ”As a captain, KL Rahul’s impact with the bat diminishes”- Sanjay Manjrekar.