‘Go deep and really bowl the guys’: Manjrekar’s strong message after India’s T20I

Gautam Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer (BCCI Photo) NEW DELHI: Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar criticized India’s approach after the team suffered a 0-4 defeat against England in the T20I series, saying sacking head coach Gautam Gambhir, captain Shreyas Iyer or a few players would be “easy” but would not solve the real problem.India endured a miserable tour, losing the five-match series 0-4 after the opening match was unlucky. The defeat came on the back of a 0-2 series loss to Ireland, meaning the reigning T20 World Cup champions failed to win a single match in two overseas missions.In a video posted on Instagram, Manjrekar said that changing the coach, captain or players would not solve the root cause of India’s struggles.“The easiest thing for India would be to drop Gautam Gambhir, drop the captain, drop some players who didn’t perform well in Ireland and England. That would be easy,” Manjrekar said.Shreyas Iyer who took over the T20I captaincy from Suryakumar Yadav endured a rough start after India’s World Cup triumph. Under his leadership, India lost six out of seven T20Is, with one match abandoned due to rain.The heavy defeat also saw India lose the No. 1 spot in the ICC Men’s T20I rankings to England.According to Manjrekar, India’s poor performances were mainly because the team was not prepared for overseas conditions.“The right thing to do would be to identify the main reason for India’s failure. And the main reason is that these T20 matches were played. Ireland and England. Overseas conditions,” he said.He believes that the players were mainly selected based on their IPL performances.“Our batsmen and our team were ill-prepared for these conditions. Why? Because the selectors actually picked all these players based on their IPL performances,” he pointed out.Manjrekar criticized the batting conditions in the IPL, saying that they make it difficult to judge the ability of players in demanding conditions.“The IPL puts a very strong make-up on Indian batters, all the batters. The IPL batting conditions are the easiest I’ve ever seen in my life. And that’s why it’s flattering to cheat. And that’s why you see so many batters at the top of the order doing the crazy things they do.”He added that performances in the IPL do not always translate to success overseas.“So you don’t really know which player will do well when there’s something for the bowlers. And it’s not as easy as batting on a marble slab like in the IPL. And that’s where the selectors have to be smart and pick people like Shubham Gill who will succeed in Ireland, England, everywhere as a T20 batsman,” Manjrekar said.Manjrekar concluded by saying that the focus should instead be on those responsible for creating batting conditions in the IPL.“Go deeper and really throw out those people who advised the BCCI that (batting-friendly conditions) to make the IPL more popular and commercially viable. Let’s have more fours and sixes. Let’s have more than 100,” he said.