Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar disagrees with selection of Shardul Thakur over Md. Shami. Team India opened their Asia Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on 2nd September. Indian team took a bold decision of dropping Md. Shami, preferring Shardul Thakur over him.
Former cricketer and commentator Manjrekar questions this selection. He thinks team isn’t sure about their batting, hence picked an all-rounder rather than proper bowler. He feels Md. Shami would be more dangerous than Thakur.
The 58-year old says,
“I am against this thought. People talk about batting depth but what about bowling depth?”
“Isn’t Mohammed Shami more a threat to Pakistan batters than Shardul Thakur? I wouldn’t worry about batting depth but leaving someone put like a Shami, especially on a surface where you see the ball seam around, India should have gone with three quality seamers. It just shows signs of insecurity and not trusting you batters in (Ravindra) Jadeja at No.7,”
Ravi Shastri also supported Manjrekar ‘s view
Former India head coach, Ravi Shastri was also shocked by omission of Md. Shami. He also felt Md. Shami should be preferred over Thakur. Due to his wicket taking ability.
However, team India feels they need batting depth. Hence, Shardul was preferred over Shami. Captain Rohit Sharma talked about, wanting to have depth in their batting line-up. Shardul Thakur provides that batting depth. However, he couldn’t score much in the first game. But team India and all the fans would be hoping to comes good in the upcoming matches.
Notably, Shardul has been the highest-wicket taker for India since 2019 World Cup. He has the nag of breaking partnerships and can score crucial runs in the back-end of the innings. He will play an important role in the Asia Cup and World Cup, as he will be playing as third seamer in the team.
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