World Cup 2019: Sanjay Manjrekar picks India's playing XI and leaves out KL Rahul

What’s the story?

Despite KL Rahul’s sensational hundred in the second warm-up match against Bangladesh, where he scored 108 off just 99 deliveries and showed the right kind of tempo for the no. 4 position, Sanjay Manjrekar doesn’t think that the Karnataka batsman should be in the playing XI of India against South Africa in the opening game of their Cricket World Cup campaign.

In case you didn’t know..

Shankar has been picked in the squad as the first choice no. 4, which the chief selector MSK Prasad had made pretty clear at the time of the announcement of the squad. So, in Manjrekar’s opinion, if Shankar has been picked specifically for that purpose, he should be given the opportunity to show his worth in the early stages of the tournament, and if he fails to grab the opportunity, then Rahul can come into the picture.

The heart of the matter

In a video recorded for ESPN Cricinfo, Manjrekar said that it’s not Rahul, but Vijay Shankar, whom India should pick to bat at no. 4

Apart from picking Shankar at 4, Manjrekar has also picked Kedar Jadhav at 5 and not Dinesh Karthik. Although Jadhav has been a regular member of the Indian ODI side in the last couple of years, he hasn’t had any match practice since landing in England as his shoulder injury hasn’t completely healed.

But Manjrekar reckons that since Hardik Pandya, who will be playing as an all-rounder at no. 7, is not certain to bowl his full quota of 10 overs every game, the team needs Jadhav to complete the fifth bowler’s quota if needed.

As far as the bowling department is concerned, Manjrekar has overlooked Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and has gone with the pace duo of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, and he has also picked both the wrist spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, in his XI, keeping out Ravindra Jadeja, who could have added some batting depth to the Indian line-up.

Manjrekar's XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (C), Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal

What’s next?

India take on South Africa at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on the 5th of June. KL Rahul is likely to grab the number four position after his brilliant century against Bangladesh in the last warm-up game.

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