Sanjay Manjrekar : India’s dominance in One-day series does not surprise me
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Sanjay Manjrekar has stated that he was not surprised by India’s dominance in the ODI series against SA as the visitors registered their 9th consecutive series win in the 50-over format. He has asked India to find two middle-order batsmen especially for T20Is who can play a 360-degree game.
On Friday, India defeated SA by eight wickets to win the six-match series 5-1 and the
"That fighting spirit shown in the last Test on a dangerous pitch despite having lost the series got a lot of admiration for Virat (Kohli) and his boys from the fans. Their dominance in the One-day series that followed does not surprise me. India is a very good 50-overs side and unlike in Tests, in all conditions," Majrekar wrote in his column for Times of India.
After making a comeback in the third Test on a dangerous pitch, India did not look back and recorded their first series win in
"The two young wrist spinners have made such an incredible difference that this Indian side is virtually unrecognizable from the one that played last year. Now there are as many bowling heroes as there are batting ones, a rare scenario indeed in Indian cricket."
The Indian top three batsmen scored 1051 runs in the series and the bowlers did their job as well but the only part where India had been lacking was to find a middle order batsman who can anchor the innings whenever required. India was set to play 3 T20 internationals in the coming 7 days before leaving for Sri Lanka to play a triangular T20 series starting on March 6. This would be the perfect time for India to find a solution to their middle order woes that the team has been facing lately. Manjrekar touched upon the middle-order muddle advocating a search for batsmen who can play a modern 360-degree game, especially in T20s.
"In Rohit (Sharma), Shikhar (Dhawan) and Virat, India have a pretty good top three. In (Hardik) Pandya, they have a good floater and big hitter. Search should be on though for at least two middle-order batsmen who can play the modern 360-degree game. Somehow, India is still a bit traditional when they bat in T20s."
"To set and chase down massive targets, India needs a bit of audacity in the batting. And yes, maybe a couple of seam bowlers too as back up to Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) and (Jasprit) Bumrah. I like the look of Jaydev Unadkat."
"This team is showing potential to come out with more merit than earlier teams in this ongoing long overseas phase of international cricket. In between these major foreign tours, they will have some respite though in the form of cricket in Asia like the Nidahas trophy in Sri Lanka to mark 70 years of Sri Lankan independence. This will be a T20 triangular featuring the hosts, Bangladesh and of course India. I see this tournament as a great chance for India to plug a few holes that don’t seem very obvious when you are winning but are there nevertheless. With these holes filled India should be watertight as a team, and be formidable in all formats which are every nation’s dream.”
