ENG vs IND: Sanjay Manjrekar picks his playing XI for the Lord’s Test, no place for Ravindra Jadeja

ENG vs IND: Sanjay Manjrekar picks his playing XI for the Lord’s Test, no place for Ravindra Jadeja

Sanjay Manjrekar and Ravindra Jadeja

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has named his playing XI of the Indian team for the second Test match at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. Interestingly, he left out Ravindra Jadeja, who played a crucial knock of 56 runs while batting at number seven in the maiden game of the series.

Starting from the openers, Manjrekar picked the duo of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma who did considerably well in the Nottingham Test. At number three, he picked Chetshwar Pujara despite his dismal run in international cricket. 

“Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul will be my openers. At No. 3, I will want to play Pujara. We didn’t get to see a lot of his batting in the second innings but I will still want to play him,” Manjrekar said. 

Sanjay Manjrekar went with skipper Virat Kohli and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane at number four and five respectively. However, asserted to pick a specialist batsman at the following place alongside Rishabh Pant as the wicket-keeper.

“Then Virat Kohli will be No. 4, Ajinkya Rahane No. 5. A slightly controversial selection because I will like to get a specialist batsman at No.6, some depth in the batting because two or three batsmen are out of form and the ball moves a little as well in England,” he added.

Ravichandran Ashwin returns in Manjrekar’s XI

Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin

Apart from Jadeja, another name that was missing in the playing was Shadrul Thakur. The medium-pacer had picked four wickets during the recently concluded match while not being able to trouble the scoreboard with the bat. Manjrekar named Ravi Ashwin in the side on Thakur’s place while Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj were the three fast bowlers.

“I would like to bring in Ashwin, who I feel was dropped wrongly in the first match. I am bringing a bowler who has greater chances of taking wickets on a good pitch and will play three seamers – Shami, Bumrah. No idea if Ishant is fit but I will go with Siraj because he can take five wickets,” he concluded.

Sanjay Manjrekar’s playing XI for Lord’s Test: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj

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