Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has raised a question mark over Rohit Sharma not using the services of Ravindra Jadeja against left-handed batsmen early and shared a piece of statistic that, he says, “needs to be shown” to the India captain.
On a rain-shortened opening day of the second Test against Bangladesh in Kanpur, only 35 overs were possible after India won the toss and opted to bowl for the first time in nine years in a home Test.
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Left-arm spinner Jadeja was the only specialist bowler who was not asked to bowl, while pacer Akash Deep was the pick of the Indian bowlers with his 2 for 34. Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took the other wicket to fall on Friday.
Bangladesh, who trail the two-match series 1-0, fought their way to 107 for 3. Mominum Haque was batting on 50 and Mushifqur Rahim on 6 when rain stopped play.
With Bangladesh under pressure when the third wicket fell at the score of 80 post lunch, Manjrekar believes Rohit could have brought Jadeja in, while admitting that it was only logical to have an off-spinner bowling at the two left-handers on the crease.
However, Manjrekar shared a statistic about Jadeja’s record against former England captain and left-handed opener Alastair Cook to make his point.
“Rohit needs to be shown this stat- JADEJA vs COOK, 2016 series: In 8 inngs, got him out 6 times, conceded just 75 runs. Rohit tends to not bowl Jadeja early when there are left handers out there,” Manjrekar posted on ‘X’.
After the end of day’s play, Manjrekar elaborated on his point during his analysis in a chat on ESPNcricinfo.
“Every captain has an approach, keeping in mind the bowlers he has. It’s nothing wrong because captains tend to trust some bowlers more. I have noticed this, not particularly in this series, when it comes to spin, Rohit favours Ashwin a bit more,” said the former batsman.
“Yes, he did have a reason here because there were two left-handers, but match-ups should merely be guidelines. As you see in this series, in the previous match, Shakib Al Hasan had troubled Rishabh Pant, and there was also a dropped-catch scenario. This is an ongoing trend even in Test cricket, but you have a quality bowler like Jadeja, who has a good record against left-handers.
“Remember, he dismissed Alastair Cook six times in eight innings. So not giving him the ball at all was baffling,” he added.