IPL 2020 | Jagadeesan knock a lesson for CSK that there’s life beyond older players, asserts Sanjay Manjrekar

SportsCafe Desk
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Renowned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar lavished praise on young Narayan Jagadeesan, who impressed on his IPL debut, and asserted that his knock was a lesson for CSK that they can start banking on younger players. Manjrekar further defended the knock of Rayudu, who largely batted without intent.

Despite having been a prominent figure in the Tamil Nadu domestic setup for over three years, and despite tearing the TNPL apart with his consistency year after year, it was only on Saturday, two years after being purchased, that 24-year-old Narayan Jagadeesan made his CSK debut. And the youngster, who replaced under-fire Kedar Jadhav, impressed instantly as he struck a nonchalant 28-ball 33 before perishing via a callous run-out. In his 28-ball stay in the middle, Jagadeesan showcased a wide variety of shots, including a fancy reverse-hit off Yuzvendra Chahal.

Speaking on ESPN Cricinfo’s ‘T20 time out’, Sanjay Manjrekar attested that he was impressed with the youngster and claimed that Jagadeesan’s knock is a lesson for CSK that they can now start overlooking some of the seniors. Manjrekar further hoped for CSK to back the youngster in the games to come.

“I was impressed. This was a guy playing in the IPL for the first time, batted like a good boy the first few balls and after that, became the typical bad boy of today’s cricket - switch hits and everything came into play. Maybe a little learning for CSK that there is life in cricket beyond the Kedar Jadhavs, because I thought Jagadeesan played really well. I hope they back him and give him confidence, maybe he could be the next string of CSK batsmen in the middle,” Manjrekar said on ESPN Cricinfo’s ‘T20 Time out.’

While runs were flowing from the bat of Jagadeesan, it was not quite the same from the willow of his senior partner Ambati Rayudu, who endured an underwhelming 40-ball stay on Saturday. Rayudu came under fire from commentators for not showing intent - with his batting and running - but Manjrekar ran to the veteran’s defence and stated that he played with caution only because the side lost both the openers inside the powerplay.

“No, Ambati Rayudu’s knock did not lack intent. He was aware that Faf and Watson were gone and that he was batting with a youngster. And he’s already played one blinder of an innings in this IPL (versus Mumbai). Whether he can replicate that innings is something we’ll have to wait and see.”

It was “same old, same old CSK” on Saturday as after scoring just 47 runs off the first 10 overs, the side fell short of their final target of 170 by 37 runs, with none of their middle and lower order batsmen being able to keep up with the pace of the required run rate. Manjrekar suspected an over-reliance on Watson and du Plessis and noted how even easy targets have looked beyond the reach of the ageing CSK batters.

“I don’t think they messed up the run chase. Once Watson and Faf were gone, it was very obvious that it seemed beyond them. And that’s been the problem with CSK. You can’t really reduce it down to one batsman playing a bad shot or the team putting out a horror performance, it just seems for some people, chasing is beyond their ability. We saw Bravo bat today and the Bravo of 2018 is clearly not there anymore. It was imperative for Faf and Watson to get going, but once they were gone, it was out of their reach.”

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