Sanjay Manjrekar makes a bold prediction
Sanjay Manjrekar makes a bold prediction for India’s T20 World Cup line-up. He says Shikhar Dhawan will open
Highlights
- KL Rahul was the first choice opener of the Indian national cricket team for the 2021 T20 World Cup.
- India has not finalized its squad for the T20 World Cup.
- Shikhar Dhawan was around the main Indian T20 team for a while.
Former Indian cricket player, Sanjay Manjrekar, has the opinion that Shikhar Dhawan will be opening the innings alongside Rohit Sharma in the T20 World Cup.
Dhawan has been seen in the role of a captain in the Indian ODI side in the series against West Indies. Dhawan has been in cracking form in the 50-over format of cricket.
On Sports18’s show Sports Over The Top, Manjrekar opinionated that barring Dhawan, Gill, and Ruturaj Gaikwad will push Rahul for the top order spot.
Sanjay Vijay Manjrekar was born on the 12th of July 1965. He is an Indian cricket commentator and a former cricket player. He played international cricket for the Indian cricket team from 1987 until 1996 as a right-handed middle-order batsman. After retiring from professional cricket, Manjrekar began his career as a cricket commentator.
“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 as options. So, it will be about somebody making a personal sacrifice from KL Rahul’s standpoint thinking from only his angle. We have seen over the years that when he opens the innings, he gets a big one when he bats down the order at 5 or 6 obviously he does not get that opportunity. But then where do you back Shubman Gill? Shubman Gill can bat at number 3. I think Shubman Gill is also somebody that India can start looking at as a batter down the order in Test cricket. So, all these things are being tackled and we have seen them right through our coverage of Indian cricket. These are the talking points for us. Then there are so many options, so many permutations and combinations that have worked for India. And you know India has managed to win despite making all kinds of changes,” he spoke on Sports18.
Dhawan was around the main Indian T20I squad for a while. Dhawan has been seen taking part in the T20Is when the main team was not available to play. Dhawan captained a very young Indian squad to Sri Lanka in the year 2021. Around that time, the Virat Kohli-led team was preparing for their own series in England. Dhawan’s stocks declined in the national team due to his style of play, where he usually anchors the Indian innings.
“There is Ruturaj Gaikwad, there is Shubman Gill, there is Shikhar Dhawan, there is KL Rahul, and wild cards such as Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan opening the innings. 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.” Sanjay Manjrekar further added to the number of options that the Indian cricket team had at its disposal at the moment.