Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar unveiled his choice of India XI for the first Test of the five-match BGT 2024 (Border-Gavaskar Trophy) series. The match will be played at the Optus Stadium in Perth from November 22.
India will be missing the services of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill for the first Test as the India captain recently became a father for the second time. Gill, on the other hand, suffered a thumb injury on his left hand and will require some time to get well.
Jasprit Bumrah will captain India in the series opener and there have been quite a few speculations on who will open the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal. India has options of Abhimanyu Easwaran, KL Rahul, and Devdutt Padikkal to choose from.
However, Sanjay Manjrekar has picked Abhimanyu Easwaran to make his Test debut for India and open the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal.
“I said in the past as well, try and do the right thing. You picked him as an opener because of his tremendous performance at the first-class level. And if you're not going to value that and go buy a couple of warmup matches in conditions that you've been exposed to for the first time, it's not the right thing to do, and it's not like KL Rahul. An opening option is setting the stage on fire, so I'll stick with Easwaran at the top for those reasons,” Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.
Another surprise was that Manjrekar picked Dhruv Jurel at the no.3 spot in the absence of Shubman Gill. Jurel had scored twin fifties for India A in the first four-day game against Australia A.
“It's really about somebody who's feeling a little bit comfortable in those conditions and Jurel has looked India best better in the warmer games and the past as well. In Test might look the part. He's got a good first-class record, so just based on a current performance and being, you know smart about the resources available, rather have him at number three than somebody like KL Rahul,” Manjrekar added.
Sanjay Manjrekar made a interesting choice in the bowling options as well, and picked two spin-all-rounders in Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja, despite the game being played in Perth, considered to be the mecca for fast bowlers.
Manjrekar pointed out how Sundar excelled against New Zealand, picking up 16 wickets in his two Tests. He also made 88 runs with the bat.
Manjrekar said that Indian cricket has always trusted their spinners and recalled India playing 3 spinners in the 1977 Perth Test and Kumble, Sehwag, and Harbhajan playing in the 2008 Test.
“Well, there’s a track record of Indian cricket, trusting the spinners. One in 1977, when India played three spinners and it was a very close Test match. More recently Kumble and Sehwag playing as spinners. Sehwag got a couple of wickets, [including] Adam Gilchrist.
So, I believe that if you’ve got quality bowlers, and after the kind of performance Washi showed in that last series. I mean, who has the heart and wants to drop somebody like him plus the kind of batting depth he had? So, I would rather sacrifice a pace bowler and have somebody like Washi,” he added.
He furthermore defended his decision to go with two spinners in the Perth Test.
He stated: “Absolutely, I can stand on the rooftops and defend my playing XI because it is the most pragmatic approach to the playing XI rather than going back to convention and past as well. Just looking today and the kind of limited resources that you have in this kind of [situation] where you have very few players to choose from.
You have a Washington Sundar who’s had a brilliant series and the thing that if you got bounce, some spinners can make a mark and Washi could be one of those and he’s already got runs as a batter in Australia. I mean, how can you leave Washington Sundar out is my question and that’s why He’s forced his way into the playing XI despite the kind of history that Perth has,” he added.
Sanjay Manjrekar’s India playing XI for the 1st Test:
Abhimanyu Easwaran, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Akash Deep.
(ESPNCricinfo inputs)
