Sanjay Manjrekar opens up on the changes in India's Playing XI ahead of final T20I

India and England will be up against each other in the fifth T20 International of the five-match series at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium on March 20. The last match is going to be a nail-biting affair as it is a do-or-die game for both teams because the series is currently leveled at 2-2. Ahead of the marquee game, former Indian batsman and renowned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar opined on the playing XI of the hosts.

One of the biggest headaches of Team India in the T20I series thus far has been the torrid form of opening batsman KL Rahul. Rahul has registered scores of 1,0,0 and 14 in four T20I. However, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli and team-management are keen on giving Rahul a long rope. Thus, Manjrekar believes that Rahul can be selected ahead of Ishan Kishan in the Playing XI.

Ishan had made his debut for India in the second T20 International and managed to impress the who’s who of the cricket fraternity by smashing a stunning fifty. However, the batsman was forced to warm the bench in the fourth T20I as he suffered a groin injury.

“They [India] want to give KL Rahul a long rope. He gets another game and they (the management) tell him that because you’re out of form and you’re a class player, you’ll get another game. But he doesn’t get the license to consume more balls than necessary. It’s good that his 14 off 17 [balls] didn’t come to hurt India but it hurt England for sure because that’s exactly what Malan got; 14 of 17 [balls]. I would love to have Ishan Kishan back if the niggle is out of the way but let’s see how it goes,” Manjrekar explained while speaking to ESPNCricinfo after the 4th T20I.

Sanjay Manjrekar opines on the changes in the bowling unit

The Men in Blue have been playing the gamble of going with just five bowlers in the match for quite some time now. As compared to bowling, India looks forward to increasing its batting depth. This had proved to be dangerous for the team in the 4th T201 as Washington Sundar had to compulsorily bowl his four overs despite having a bad day at the office. 

Speaking about the same, Sanjay Manjrekar stated, “I think they are okay for the moment. You might think they are a bit batting heavy because very often they have not used all their batting because Washington Sundar is a batsman worth the salt in T20 cricket. I don’t see India making any changes with regards to the number of bowlers.

“Maybe, they will have a look at Washington Sundar and the pitch being the way it is and if they bowl again in the second half of the game, they might think of somebody like a Tewatia. They won’t play Axar Patel as they have far too many left-handers in that England team. But trying out Tewatia is a risk I doubt they will take,” concluded Manjrekar.