Sanjay Manjrekar takes a dig at KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant for their inconsistent show

India saw their captain Virat Kohli rising to the occasion in the third T20I against Australia in Sydney and steer his side to victory with a scintillating half-century on Sunday. The win meant Team India levelled the series 1-1 and ending the year without losing a single T20I series. However, the visitors still seem to have some chinks in their armour and former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar did not hesitate to expose it.

Two of India’s key batters – KL Rahul and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant failed to deliver in the series in which India got to bat twice as one game was washed in rain. While Rahul managed 27 in two outings, Pant, who was dismissed on the first ball he faced in Sydney, could score 20. According to Manjrekar, India were playing an all-rounder like Krunal Pandya to hide the inconsistencies shown by Rahul and Pant and suggested in a tweet that they should play a bowler like Yuzvendra Chahal to look a stronger unit.

Rahul has managed 27 in T20I series, Pant 20

Rahul and Pant’s inconsistency with the bat inducing India (perhaps)to play Krunal Pandya – A bowler who bats.
India would be a stronger team if Chahal plays & so does Krunal in place of a batsman. What do you guys think?#INDvAUS

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) November 25, 2018

Manjrekar had spoken about replacing Pandya with Chahal after the newcomer went for a lot of runs in the first T20I at the Gabba. He, however, came back strongly in the next two games and even picked up the Man of the Match award in Sydney by taking 4 for 36 with all his scalps coming from the top order of the Australian batting.

Pant scored a crucial 20 in the first T20I in Brisbane but got out to a poor shot at a crucial juncture and India lost the match by just four runs. His shot selection even moved former India captain Sourav Ganguly who said the team management should talk with him about his choice of hits.

While Rahul had a poor run in the Test series in England and saved his place by hitting a hundred in the dead rubber in the fifth Test at the Oval, Pant also scored his first Test ton in that game and had some good outings in the home series against Windies in the longer format. However, the 21-year-old, who has replaced the legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the T20Is, is yet to produce anything magical in the limited-overs formats.

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