Former India batsman and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has said that the Indian team needs a wicket-taking spinner for the upcoming matches in the T20 World Cup 2021. This point has been raised by other cricket experts as well, especially after all of the Indian bowlers went wicketless in the match against Pakistan last Sunday.

Manjrekar feels that the current Indian squad has spinners who are good at controlling the run-flow of batters but are not specialists in taking wickets at regular intervals. “India need wicket-taking spinners. Any spinner who bowls to get wickets and not obsess over the economy is my guy,” Manjrekar said while speaking to ANI.

Manjrekar stated in his column for Hindustan Times : “Ashwin, like Jadeja, is not a wicket-taker. Both are more focused on the economy than wickets. I believe in T20s, the spinners’ job is to get wickets and be the game-changer in the middle.” 

Rahul Chahar is someone who always attacks the wickets: Virat Kohli

Apart from the two spinners who played against Pakistan (Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy), India have Ravichandran Ashwin and Rahul Chahar, whom they can try in the upcoming games. Ahead of the mega-event, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli had spoken highly of both the tweakers.

Talking about the leggie, Rahul Chahar, Kohli had said that his ability to bowl with pace and attack the stumps at the UAE wickets, was a major factor in selecting him over Yuzvendra Chahal. “We believe going on in this tournament, the wickets are going to get slower and slower, so guys who bowl with pace will be able to trouble the batters as compared to those who give it air. Rahul definitely has those strengths naturally as a leg-spinner. He is someone who always attacks the wickets, that is the factor that tilted the thing in favour of him”, Kohli had said.

There were also questions regarding the selection of Ravichandran Ashwin who last played a limited-overs international match on July 09, 2017. However, the Indian captain was very happy with his selection and had backed the off-spinner to perform well for the team. Kohli had said: “We felt like the way he [Ashwin] was bowling and his variations now and his control over pace is something which is … again a lot of experience, a guy who has played a lot of international cricket and he’s at his confident best.”

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