Ex-cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has given his thoughts on the inclusion of Ravindra Jadeja in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against New Zealand. The all-rounder’s presence was not felt in the final, scoring a total of 31 runs and picking up a solitary wicket in the two innings combined.
India had a below-par batting performance in both the innings, being blown away by the Kiwi pacemen who were relentless with their line and lengths. In such tough conditions, a specialist batsman like Hanuma Vihari could have done a lot more according to Manjrekar.
Although in hindsight, a losing team’s personnel selection will always come under criticism, Sanjay Manjrekar justified his reasoning by mentioning that India were aware of the overcast conditions beforehand.
“If you have to look at how India went about before the game started, picking two spinners was always a debatable selection especially when the conditions were overcast and the toss was delayed by a day. They picked one player for his batting, which was Jadeja, and his left-arm spin wasn’t the reason he was picked and that is something that I am always against,” he said.
‘It backfired, as it mostly does’ – Sanjay Manjrekar on Jadeja’s inclusion
He felt Jadeja’s position in the team was justified only if the pitch was dry and India had enough specialist batsmen already. Hanuma Vihari, who played a major role in India’s fightback in the third Test against Australia in Sydney, was a much better option as he was a specialist batsman.
Vihari had also played a few County matches before the WTC Final as part of his preparation for the England tour.
This is why I always had @Hanumavihari in my team! In places like #England, the bowlers will get the job done any which way, but it is the batting that needs to be given more weightage in terms of just the ability to play normal old fashioned test cricket! #INDvNZ #WTC21final
— Aaryan Nakhat (@Underdog333_) June 23, 2021
“You have got to pick specialist players in the team and if they felt that the pitch was dry and turning, they would have picked Jadeja for his left-arm spin, along with Ashwin, that would have made sense. But they picked him for his batting and I think that backfired as mostly it does. Had they had a specialist batsman in Hanuma Vihari for example, who had a pretty good defense, that would have been handy,” Manjrekar assessed.