Launching a scathing attack on India's cricket culture, Sanjay Manjrekar has decided to make changes for under-performing captain Rohit Sharma at the expense of team balance for the ongoing Boxing Day Test against Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Manjrekar highlighted the growing trend of prioritizing the return of iconic players to form over maintaining a stable line-up, and believes the Indian move has disrupted the team's dynamics. The former Indian batsman's comments came after Team India made a couple of changes back in the must-win fourth Test against Australia.
India: Sanjay Manjrekar recalls Rohit Sharma as opener, urges India to prioritize performance over big names | India News
In fact, Rohit Sharma returned to his usual opening position despite struggling in the middle order with just 19 runs from three innings in the ongoing 2024-25 Frontier-Gavaskar Trophy, where he missed the first test against Australia in Perth.
Since the Indian cricket team's captain returned to his opening slot, KL Rahul, who had been the team's most consistent opener in the ongoing five-match Test series, was shifted to number three, breaking up his successful partnership with Yashasvi Jaiswal for the crucial box. Day trial.
The batting order did not give them the desired result, as Rohit was dismissed freely for 3 runs while KL Rahul could only manage 24 runs against Australia in the fourth 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Melbourne. Apart from these changes, India also played an additional spinner, Washington Sundar, for whom they dropped Shubman Gill.
We are making all kinds of changes to give opportunity to the iconic players: Sanjay Manjrekar
According to Wisden, Sanjay Manjrekar said during the statement: “An issue that is very much connected to the culture of Indian cricket is that these iconic players are in India, struggling for runs, and then we go out out of the way to make sure it comes. back in shape.
“We make all kinds of changes to give the best kind of platform or opportunity to the iconic players. A situation where KL Rahul has been the best opener for both sides, the most consistent batsman for India – he is dismissed, batting at No. 3, so that Rohit Sharma gets a chance to get into form.”
Meanwhile, Sanjay Manjrekar questioned the reasoning behind KL Rahul replacing Rohit Sharma at the top level as he pointed out that the Karnataka batsman had been successful in the opening phase in Australia and even that he formed a top partnership with Yashasvi Jaiswal in the Perth Test.
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Sanjay Manjrekar says India risked team performance for Rohit Sharma's ego
A cricket expert said that the Indian team management's efforts to help struggling players like Rohit Sharma to get back in form are understandable, but they should not have jeopardized the team's performance, especially in such a high game. He also argued that the interest of the team should have come first, instead of valuing the ego of big names.
Manjrekar signed off by saying, “KL Rahul has been so good in that position. Opening in Australia is not easy. Jaiswal and KL Rahul had a record partnership for India in Australia, but India were only too happy to break that partnership to allow a famous player to flourish. In Australia, when you found an opener who looked the part, pushing him down to number 3 to open an out-of-form big-name player, I thought it was just a bad call. there “
