Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar criticized the Indian cricket team for their selection for the fourth Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Floor. Rohit Sharma and company. had dropped Shubman Gill for the game at MCG to make way for spin bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar. India suffered a 184-run defeat in the game as the batsmen failed to even take the game to a draw. Disappointed with the result, Majrekar noted that India should not have dropped Gill.
“You tried to address the uncertainties of hitting by getting a pitcher who could hit. Nitish Kumar Reddy in the side at the expense of Shubman Gill or maybe Washy (Washinton Sudar at the expense of Gill). So, they left out a suitable batsman and In hindsight, one would think that on a pitch like this, the flattest in the five-day series, Shubman Gill would have come in handy,” Manjrekar said. ESPNcricinfo.
While Nitish scored a historic century in India’s first innings, Washington scored 55 runs in two innings and also took a wicket.
“Nitish Kumar Reddy did well and fortunately that help was important. But it is an approach that never works when Washington Sundar ultimately played as a batsman, and will never be as good as a top-order batsman like Shubman Gill.” he added.
Jasprit Bumrah outshone everyone with his impeccable bowling skills as he accounted for 9 wickets in the game but India could not take advantage of that and ultimately suffered a massive defeat.
“There is a big difference between Bumrah and the rest. Siraj, even though he is present and a good bowler, there is still a big distance between Siraj and Bumrah. Also, when you look at Mitchell Starc and Siraj, Akash Deep and Scott Boland, overall the (Australian) seam attack looks much better. Nathan Lyon as a spinner in these conditions is better than Washington and Ravindra Jadeja, so India will go into the ultimate Test match knowing it is theirs. The bowling attack is not adequate,” Manjrekar said.
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