World Cup 2019: Sanjay Manjrekar feels Virat Kohli and Indian batsmen are capable of scoring without risks

The recently concluded England vs Pakistan ODI series has put all bowlers on alert for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019. Both the teams scored over 340 runs in every inning and the nature of the wickets clearly assisting just the batsmen was on display for the world to see. However, Sanjay Manjrekar, former India batsman, disagrees that the batsmen will go hammer and tongs in the tournament and one will not see the brutal hitting.

He doesn’t think the likes of Andre Russell and Hardik Pandya will go out there destroying bowling attacks and morale of bowlers as they did in the Indian Premier League. He said the reason is simple, as 50-over cricket is different from 20-over cricket and the game has to be played completely different in the upcoming World Cup.

Virat Kohli is superb at pacing his innings without taking undue risks

Manjrekar said that only the batsmen who don’t take undue risks while scoring at a good rate will find success in the World Cup. He thinks Kohli has an edge over the likes of Rohit, Dhawan, Rahul and Jadhav who rely on the release shot after playing out a few dot balls.

“In the current Indian World Cup squad, there is only Virat Kohli who is simply superb at this, while you have to say this is not quite the main strength of the other batsmen in the team. Others such as Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, K L Rahul, and Kedar Jadhav are all exceptional players, but their “release shot” to counter pressure is to hunt for a boundary, and that is an inevitably risky strategy,” Manjrekar was quoted in his column for News18.com.

The commentator who is a part of the ICC’s World Cup panel opined that though England is playing a big game of going after the bowling with the first ball and continuing assault till the last ball of the innings. However, he mentioned that he was sceptical of this approach in a tournament like the World Cup.

Manjrekar feels a batsman like Virat Kohli is successful in the format without taking risks as power hitting in 50-overs cricket needs to be controlled by a calm sensible head.

“Kohli is consistent because he hardly hits the ball in the air. In fact, you can chase any target in 50 over cricket by not hitting a single six. Those who have to are not skilled enough to get 8 runs an over with minimal risk. Such teams are vulnerable,” Manjrekar further wrote.

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