Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has called out Rohit Sharma’s tactics in the first Test of the series against New Zealand. India was beaten in the opening Test, losing in Bengaluru by eight wickets.
Speaking about Rohit’s approach against the Kiwis, Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo, “I was a bit surprised, I think tactically for Rohit Sharma, this Test match wasn’t his greatest.” He claimed India made some poor decisions during their bowling performance. “I can understand Siraj getting one or two overs and Bumrah getting a long spell. But Siraj getting 6 overs in that first spell, I think that is far too many and already a lot of runs on the board, and you had that little margin to chase,” he said.
Sanjay Manjrekar also highlighted another significant error on the final day of the Bengaluru Test. He claimed that Ravichandran Ashwin should have started the attack with Jasprit Bumrah to create trouble for the New Zealand batters.
“Another part is Ashwin. When there is no lavish turn on the pitch, the captain tends to use him with a new ball. He would have been tough for the Kiwi batters had he started off with Bumrah, and even if he had come in the fourth over of the inning,” Manjrekar said.
Team India’s eight-wicket loss to New Zealand resulted in significant backlash with several fans and pundits questioning Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. Many criticised Rohit for the decision to bat first in Bengaluru. India were dismissed for 46 in the first innings.
On Day 5 of the Test, Rohit Sharma opted to bring Ravichandran Ashwin only after 10 runs needed to be scored, despite the spinner being the most successful bowler for India in red-ball cricket.
Amid all the criticism, Rohit Sharma highlighted how he was proud of his team’s effort to recover from the first-innings fallout and produce a 462-run total.
“Couple of partnerships were really exciting to watch and got us back in the game. We could have easily been bowled out cheaply but proud of the effort,” Rohit said during the post-match conference.
India will now be focused on protecting their impressive home Test series winning streak of 18. They will aim to win their next two Tests to complete a comeback in the series. The second Test between India and New Zealand will start on October 24 in Pune.
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