Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has urged the Indian top-order batters to take a bit more responsibility and respect the conditions and the bowlers in the first 10 overs at the Asia Cup and the World Cup. India will be heading into the Asia Cup as one of the favourites but the concerns around injuries to some of their mainstays ahead of the two major tournaments.
India will begin their Asia Cup campaign against Pakistan in Pallekele on Saturday, September 2. The 17-member squad and the traveling reserve Sanju Samson had a 6-day preparatory camp in Alur near Bengaluru before the team departed for Sri Lanka on Wednesday. Notably, Pakistan will open the Asia Cup tournament against Nepal in Multan, Pakistan on Wednesday.
Speaking to Star Sports, Sanjay Manjrekar said it will be India’s matches to lose in the upcoming ODI tournaments if the top-order steps up and doesn’t lose wickets in the first 10 overs.
India will be without their dependable No. 5 KL Rahul for the first two matches of the Asia Cup, including the marquee clash against Pakistan. On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer is returning to action after a 6-month injury layoff and there is added pressure on the top-order to fire.
“See, fortunately for India, number one, two, and three, when Virat bats at number three, they are three very good test batters. And you might talk about 50 overs being a one-day match and white-ball cricket and all that, but the start of a 50 overs game is not like a T20 match.
“I think there are some serious Test cricket skills needed, and then Rohit Sharma got these five hundreds in the last World Cup. I remember him respecting the bowling in the first 10 overs. And these three guys – Gill, Rohit Sharma, and Virat – who have excellent credentials as defensive test batters, that is the game they’ll have to bring. If they don’t lose early wickets, then it’s just their game,” Sanjay Manjrekar said.
Notably, Manjrekar’s comments came after Rohit Sharma told PTI in an interview earlier this week that he consciously chose to play high-risk shots in the powerplay to give the team good starts. The captain also conceded that the lack of big scores (only 3 hundreds since the 2019 World Cup ended) has been due this renewed approach about which he communicated to the team management.
