Manchester: July 9: After picking Ravindra Jadeja in the India squad for the semifinal clash against New Zealand, former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has now excluded the all-rounder from his playing XI for Tuesday’s clash to be played at the Old Trafford.
The cricketer-turned-commentator, who had called Jadeja a “bits and pieces player”, was earlier trolled by many on Twitter, including Michael Vaughan for including the Saurashtra all-rounder in the squad.
Manjrekar, in a series of tweets, explained that India should pick players keeping the pitch and ground dimensions in mind. He said that as the match is likely to be played on a new pitch, Team India should go into the contest with a fresh mindset and should forget about the previous four fixtures.
He also said that the team management should bring batting all-rounder Kedar Jadhav back in the playing XI as Indian spinners have not had much of an impact on the Kiwis.
“India could pick players specific to the pitch, boundaries and opposition. Get Kedar back in the playing XI and look at numbers of Indian spinners vs NZ before picking them. Chahal – avg 27.15, eco – 5.11; Kuldeep – avg – 21.00, eco – 4.84, Jadeja – avg – 73.00, eco – 5.61 (sic),” he tweeted.
The 53-year-old’s comment about Jadeja as a “bits and pieces player” had not gone down well with the Saurashtra cricketer.
“I am not a big fan of bits and pieces players which Jadeja is at this point of his career in 50-over cricket. In Test matches, he is a pure bowler. But in 50-overs cricket, I would rather have a batsman and a spinner,” Manjrekar had told IANS in an interview.
Reacting to the comments, Jadeja had tweeted: “Still I have played twice the number of matches you have played and I’m still playing. Learn to respect people who have achieved. I have heard enough of your verbal diarrhea Sanjay Manjrekar.”
Manjrekar did change his opinion on July 6 during the India-Sri Lanka game in which Jadeja featured, calling him a ‘street-smart’ cricketer.(IANS)
