‘From KL Rahul’s Standpoint He Wants to be Integral Members of The T20 WC’: Sanjay Manjrekar
From KL Rahul’s Standpoint He Wants To Be Integral Members Of The T20 WC: India has a number of options at the top of the order, but former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar thinks they should “sacrifice” the opening spot to KL Rahul since he is at his best when he gets the bat swinging.
After recovering from sports hernia surgery, Rahul returned to the national squad for the ODI series against Zimbabwe.
“Shikhar Dhawan will open. Shubman Gill and Ruturaj Gaikwad are the other guys who will be pushing KL Rahul and you know the team management has options. So, it will be about somebody making a personal sacrifice from KL Rahul’s standpoint thinking from only his angle,” Manjrekar told SPORTS18.
Rahul Leading the Team
Rohit Sharma, the team’s regular captain, has been benched for the three-game series. Therefore Rahul will be leading the side.
“We’ve seen over the years that when he opens the innings, he gets a big one, when he backs down the order at 5 or 6 obviously he doesn’t get that opportunity….”
Shubman Gill scored 64, 43, and 98 against West Indies in the three ODIs played without Rahul. Ishan Kishan has also had some success as an opener in the shorter forms of the game, the white ball.
“So, there’s Ruturaj Gaikwad, there’s Shubman Gill, there’s Shikhar Dhawan, there’s KL Rahul and wild cards such as Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan opening the innings,” Manjrekar said.
“So, take your pick but from KL Rahul’s standpoint because he wants to be one of the integral members of the T20 World Cup, batting at the top of the order gets the time to get a feel of matches.”
Manjrekar agrees that “Shubman can bat at number 3 in limited overs cricket” and that he may be attempted lower in the order in the longer format.
Deepak Chahar’s Play
Pacer Deepak Chahar, who has been out since February with a hamstring injury, will make his comeback in the Zimbabwe series.
“I think they’re testing waters with Deepak Chahar more because of his fitness and if he has a sensational 50-overs series which is likely to happen because this guy over the years when you see him in T20 international cricket, I mean, he’s got some phenomenal numbers if you remember,” the former batter said.
“(He is) the younger version of Bhuvneshwar Kumar who can swing the ball both ways to begin with. Maybe not as consistent to bowl in the death but that’s the aspect of bowling that’s getting better and better,” he said.
“So, the only thing that will prevent Deepak Chahar from getting into that T20 World Cup squad of the playing 11 is very similar to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar has looked really good. So, they might look for other kinds of seam bowlers but Deepak Chahar is somebody they should keep in mind and he’s got to do something sensational to put his hand up.”