Sanjay Manjrekar picks his India squad for World Cup 2019

The ICC World Cup is less than three months away and experts have started revealing their own squads for the quadrennial event. The latest to come up with his outfit is former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar. The 53-year-old cricket commentator and analyst picked up a squad that looked almost identical to the one that played Australia at home recently with a couple of exceptions.

Manjrekar ignored Ambati Rayudu while picking his best 15 and said the batsman’s problems against seaming deliveries against the Aussies were the main reason why he did not consider him. It can be noted here that the WC will be played in England, a venue which is known for its bowler-friendly conditions. Rayudu’s last big innings in ODIs came against New Zealand in Wellington in early February and scored just 13, 18 and 2 in the three ODIs he played against Australia at home.

India went ahead with captain Virat Kohli at No.4, a position for which Rayudu was being considered, in the fourth match and wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant for the final one though none of them clicked.

“The World Cup is in England, and even if it’s the white ball, it is not going to come in straight lines. This is where all these candidates worry me,” he wrote in his column in ESPNCricinfo. “After a good score, the way Rayudu gets bowled off a ball that has moved off the seam ruins all the good work he had done until then. That’s why I remain unconvinced.”

Kohli India’s ‘warranty card’, feels Manjrekar

Manjrekar had special praise for Kohli calling the latter India’s “warranty card”, given his supreme batting prowess. He also conceded that India will go into the WC with a little concern over their middle order, no matter what squad they speak.

The former batsman also picked Pant ahead of Dinesh Karthik as the squad’s second wicket-keeper after the veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni besides opting for both Hardik Pandya and Vijay Shankar. Spinner-all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja also found a place in his squad.

Sanjay Manjrekar’s 15-member India squad for World Cup:

Virat Kohli (captain), MS Dhoni (wk), Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Shikhar Dhawan, Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, KL Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahal and Rishabh Pant.

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