It’s not going to be easy for Ravindra Jadeja to come and take his place in T20 WC: Sanjay Manjrekar

The former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Ravindra Jadeja will find it difficult to get a regular place in India’s playing eleven in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022. Recently, there have been a lot of talks going on regarding who will make India’s starting eleven, especially in the middle and lower order. The returning performances from Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik are making it tougher for the selectors to settle down on their preferred squad for the big tournament in October-November.

The star Indian all-rounder missed India’s five-match T20I series against South Africa this month due to injury. His performances for Chennai Super Kings in Indian Premier League 2022 were poor with just 116 runs and 5 wickets in 10 matches. Axar Patel played in the number seven position as a spin all-rounder option against South Africa, but his performances were not convincing enough to name that position for himself.

India might settle in with somebody like Axar Patel: Sanjay Manjrekar

Many former cricketers, including Irfan Pathan, have named Jadeja in the number seven position when asked about their preferred playing eleven for the World Cup in Australia. But Manjrekar feels that Axar might get a nod to start ahead of Jadeja.

“Clearly, Dinesh Karthik has shown that he can be a number 6 or 7 as a pure batter. The impact that he is making is phenomenal and we saw that in T20Is against South Africa and also in the IPL. So, it’s not really going to be easy for Jadeja to come in and take his place and India might settle in with somebody like Axar Patel.” Manjrekar said in a virtual chat with Firstpost.

“The side now has Hardik Pandya, Karthik batting down the order. Rishabh Pant is also there so it’s not going to be easy for him. But knowing the kind of player Jadeja is, he will be making sure that the headache doesn’t get less for the selectors.” He added.

Manjrekar also shared his views on the worrying form of star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant. He was named as a stand-in skipper for the South Africa series but the player failed to make an impact as captain and with his bat as well. He scored 58 runs in five matches at an average of 14.50 and a poor strike rate of 105.45. Manjrekar reckons that Pant is still a work of progress and demands more time.

“The kind of performances that we have seen from all the guys, Rishabh Pant will feel the pressure of having to perform. My thing is to wait and watch with Rishabh Pant because he is different, and enigmatic and he has shown it at the Test level. He is a remarkable player. But in the white-ball cricket, he is someone who is still in the process of telling exactly what kind of a player he is,” Manjrekar concluded.