India vs Australia | India erred by going with four seamers, claims Sanjay Manjrekar

Virat Kohli & Co. fell to their first defeat in the ongoing series against Australia as the hosts’ registered an important 146-run win against the visitors on Monday in Perth. An injury to Ravichandran Ashwin during the series opener in Adelaide, meant that India would be without a their first choice spinner for the second match in Perth. Ravi Shastri & Co. were left with a choice to make - to go with Ravindra Jadeja or Umesh Yadav/Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.

The Indian management opted to go with Yadav in the end, citing his brilliant 10-wicket haul against Windies, as determining factor in the decision. However, former India cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar claimed the decision to opt for four pacers backfired for the visiting team.

“Lyon is a great bowler, so we can’t assume that a (Ravindra) Jadeja would have been as effective (as him). But India, I think, made an error in going with four seamers, specially (with) Umesh Yadav and not Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

“If there was one spinner (in the team) there’s always cracks and roughs, especially with left-handed batsmen in the opposition, to exploit. Jadeja could have been of more use than the fourth seamer. So, it was a selection error that may have also contributed to India eventually losing the match,” the 53-year-old former cricketer told PTI sources.

Manjrekar, who represented India in 61 Tests scoring 2043 runs, had earlier claimed that India deliberately make eccentric selections in order to baffle their opponents. He added that the Indian management will need to assume full responsibility for the loss in Perth.

“You don’t lose because of one factor and you can’t say that we lost because of poor selection. But you can say that there have been selections which have taken the world by surprise, not just a few people. These are selections which are unexpected and eventually have proved to be wrong selections. The team management will have to take responsibility for those selections that have back-fired.

“That happened at Lord’s, that happened in Perth as well. It is a 50:50 thing where 50 per cent of the people think India should have gone in with four seamers. Most people who have played the game, followed the game very closely were thinking India should play one spinner. There is a tendency of this team picking an XI that baffles everyone,” Manjrekar added.

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