Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar who has been keenly tracking Indian cricket in the ongoing edition of the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup tournament reckons that he doesn’t see Ravichandran Ashwin in India’s playing XI against the Afghanistan cricket team if the match is played on the flat surface.
Usually, on a flat surface, there is less assistance for the spinners and hence they will not be able to use the conditions to better effect. Moreover, there would be an uneven bounce or turn and can be quite a daunting task for the spinners to keep the experienced batters in check.
Ravichandran Ashwin was part of India’s playing XI in the team’s opening encounter against the Australian cricket team at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The right-arm off-spinner conceded 34 runs, took a wicket bowled a maiden over against Australia and maintained an economy rate of 3.4.
Sanjay Manjrekar doesn’t see Ravi Ashwin playing on that surface: Sanjay Manjrekar
During a recent discussion on Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup, Sanjay Manjrekar said that he is totally not in favour of Ravi Ashwin playing as the third spinner. “My view is that unless there is a compelling reason, I don’t like Hardik Pandya as your third seamer. I think he also feels the pressure if he is the third seamer,” Manjrekar added.
“What is likely to happen is that if the pitch is similar to the one that we had in that South Africa-Sri Lanka game, which was a belter, there was nothing there for the spinners, I don’t see Ashwin playing on that surface,” he said.
India will lock horns with the Afghanistan national cricket team on October 11, Wednesday and the game will kick off at Arun Jaitley Stadium in the national capital. India started their World Cup 2023 campaign with a win over Australia and will be looking to win the next game to make it two wins in a row.
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