After Yuvraj Singh was ruled out of the 2016 ICC World T20 on Wednesday, it was confirmed that Manish Pandey, who had been put on standby on Monday night, would replace the all-rounder in the 15-man squad for the remainder of the tournament.
The 26-year-old was drafted into the playing XI on Thursday and along with hiim, the team management also brought in Ajinkya Rahane in place of the out-of-form Shikhar Dhawan. Opening the batting with Rohit Sharma, Rahane provided with just the sort of steady start that was missing all through the competition, and was eventually out for 40 off 35 balls in the 16th over of the innings.
Speaking about the Mumbaikar’s performance, skipper MS Dhoni expressed satisfaction, adding that he did the job that was asked out of him and revealed the reasons behind his selection as an opener in this game.
"If you see, someone who is orthodox can give us that platform from where we can launch and score those extra 10-15 runs in the last few overs.
The thing with Rahane is, he is someone who is quite calm and composed and he knows his responsibility in the team. This is the kind of innings that is expected of him. He isn't someone who is going to bat like Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli,” Dhoni said at the post match press conference.
"Both[Shikhar and Ajinkya] of them are very good but it's just that Shikhar wasn't able to convert starts. In games like these often you want to give the new guy a go, because if you see, Shikhar had the edge in a few games before the World Cup. Other than that, if you see the stats, Ajinkya in such conditions like in the IPL, he's been among the leading run-scorers as opener. So those were the reasons behind it. I'm glad that after facing a few deliveries he got a start and did what he does best.,” he added.
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