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Sanjay Manjrekar was quite critical about the change in India’s batting line-up. He said it was unfair for KL Rahul who did an impressive job as an opener in the last three matches.
India captain Rohit Sharma
The Boxing Day Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024 saw captain Rohit Sharma returning to the top of the order. As a result, KL Rahul moved to number while the management benched Shubman Gill and accommodated Washington Sundar in the playing XI.
It was assumed that Rohit, who has been struggling to get runs in Tests, might rediscover his rhythm if he goes back to his original spot. However, the move didn’t pay off on the second day of the fourth Test after Australia posted a mammoth 474 in their first innings. Rohit played a half-hearted pull shot and lost his wicket to his Australian counterpart in the very first over of the Indian innings.
Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar was quite critical about the change in India’s batting line-up. Speaking with ESPN Cricinfo, the former batter said it was unfair for KL Rahul who did an impressive job as an opener in the last three matches.
“This is something that happens a lot in the Indian cricket culture. There is a big-name player, just to get him on track, we often sacrifice a lesser or a smaller name and it doesn’t ever make cricketing logic or it’s never best for the team,” Majrekar commented.
“KL Rahul has been their most consistent batter. He stitched a record partnership in Australia with Yashasvi Jaiswal. Just because Rohit Sharma is out of form and is a senior player, just to get him back into form and give him something different, you can’t be making these kinds of changes.
“That just reflects poorly on Indian cricket as to what is a priority for Indian cricket and it’s happened in the past as well with Tendulkar. That just wasn’t the right call and KL Rahul, although didn’t get too affected by it, was just unfair,” he added.
Another batting collapse for India
A familiar collapse unfolded after Yashasvi Jaiswal’s inexplicable run-out as India stared down the barrel at 164/5 against a menacing Australia. Jaiswal, who was quite fluent during his 118-ball stay that yielded 82 runs, was way short of his crease after a mix-up with Virat Kohli (36) while attempting a quick single, handing Australia the breakthrough that could prove decisive.
India are still 310 runs behind Australia’s first-innings score of 474 and would need another 111 runs to avoid a follow-on that should never have been a consideration on a placid batting track.
