Rohit Sharma's defense has gotten better since 2019 World Cup: Sanjay Manjrekar

Rohit Sharma will have to play an important role as India look to win prestigious tournaments like the ongoing Asia Cup and the subsequent ODI World Cup. The experienced batter didn't have a great start to the Asia Cup as he was dismissed cheaply in India's opening fixture against Pakistan. He returned to form against Nepal as he smashed an unbeaten half-century.

The real test, however, was against the likes of Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah in the Super Four fixture versus arch-rivals Pakistan. Rohit passed with flying colours, scoring a dominating 56 off just 49 balls, with the help of six fours and four sixes. Sanjay Manjrekar praised Rohit as he noted that the Mumbai batter has improved his defense since the last ODI World Cup in 2019 after playing Test cricket on a regular basis.

"He got 5 hundred in the last World Cup, right? My assessment of Rohit Sharma is that his defense has actually gotten much better. He is a much better Test player now than he was in 2019. So I have no issues. It's about converting those starts into big hundreds because that involves running a lot of ones and twos later on in the innings. But, on the pure quality of defense, Rohit is better today. That natural ability to hit the big shots is still there," Manjrekar said while speaking to Star Sports.

If India is looking to test the waters before the World Cup, then you must give Suryakumar a game: Sanjay Manjrekar

Suryakumar Yadav is yet to translate his T20 success into the ODI format. The selectors took a brave call by naming the swashbuckling batter in India's squad for the impending 50-over World Cup. Manjrekar felt that the management should give Suryakumar a chance in the middle order ahead of the marquee event to see how he fares.

"KL Rahul coming in at that position is good for Indian cricket because they wanted to test his match fitness out. If India is looking to test the waters before the World Cup, then you must give Suryakumar a game. His One-Day credentials are still in doubt and we don't know if he would make the same kind of impact," Manjrekar added.

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