"Maybe if it was a league match, India would have played differently" - Sanjay Manjrekar after 2023 World Cup final

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes it was perhaps the pressure of the 2023 World Cup final that made the Men in Blue go into a shell against the Aussies.

There was a lot of talk about how the hosts managed to hit just four boundaries after the first powerplay. Manjrekar feels that had it not been a knockout game, the Men in Blue could have taken a few risky scoring options.

Speaking to Star Sports, here's what Sanjay Manjrekar had to say:

“I’ve been focusing a lot on the difficulty factor, the slow pitch, and how difficult it was for KL Rahul and the others to get a move on because they didn’t have any wickets left in the bag. Just imagine this game was a league match between Sri Lanka and India; would India have taken that risk? Maybe yes, that is where perhaps temperament comes in, and maybe if it was a league match, India would have played differently."

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India's batting depth wasn't there: Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar also opined that once the hosts lost three wickets in their first 11 overs, they perhaps knew there wasn't much batting to come with such a long tail. Manjrekar feels the brilliance of the hosts as a whole hid that weakness, but it was exposed in the final.

On this, Sanjay Manjrekar stated:

“Well, India had certain limitations that they had covered beautifully throughout the tournament, with Jadeja at number 7 and their batting finishing at number 6. So India felt the pressure of not having depth; you know, those little chinks in India’s armor came to the fore. The batting depth wasn’t there, and you saw the way KL Rahul played a bulk of the innings with the knowledge that there isn’t much batting to come.”

Irfan Pathan was also giving his opinion on Star Sports about how the Men in Blue let Australia get through their fifth bowling option as the likes of Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh were just not attacked enough.

On this, he asserted:

“It was tough because the Indian team was looking behind, absolutely looking behind to Jadeja and Surya Kumar Yadav. And when KL Rahul got out, I think that was the time when India couldn’t just go ahead. I thought as soon as they knew that there was no cover, no mid-off, they could have used their feet a bit more and tried to rotate the strike and not allow guys like Travis Head to bowl those two overs crucially in between. Mitchell Marsh bowled one over as well.”

After going unbeaten for 10 games, India will perhaps take solace from the fact that they were just beaten by a better-prepared team on the big day.