‘Like Bhuvi used to’: Sanjay Manjrekar wants 28-year-old pacer in India team as he can be ‘wicket-taker with the new ball’

The Indian cricket team came in for much criticism on their return to international cricket. Playing for the first time since late February, India looked out of touch and out of ideas against a marauding Australian side on Friday. The bowlers did not turn, the fielders missed chances and the batsmen despite showing spark, failed to impress. It wasn’t the performance fans have come to expect from the Indian team.

One glaring problem that was visible at the Sydney Cricket Ground was the lack of bowling options for India. India played five genuine bowlers with Ravindra Jadeja filling in as the all-rounder. Hardik Pandya played but did not bowl due to his back injury. An off-day for Yuzvendra Chahal and Navdeep Saini limited the options for India and they greatly missed another option with the ball.

Former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar noted the issue in bowling and suggested that Kohli and Co should play swing bowler Deepak Chahar as he can be a wicket-taker with the new ball.

“Agree 100 percent. Deepak Chahar to compliment Bumrah and Shami. Like Bhuvi used to. Can be wicket-taker with the new ball,’ Manjrekar said while replying to a tweet.

Agree 100%. Deepak chahar to compliment Bumrah and Shami. Like Bhuvi used to. Can be wicket taker with the new ball. https://t.co/6OUCYBluLq

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) November 28, 2020

Manjrekar also advocated for KL Rahul to be played as a No.5 while giving his nod to Mayank Agarwal as an opener.

“See, the thing is that India has a lot of depth when it comes to white-ball cricket. Rohit is almost irreplaceable but India has options. Let’s not forget, in his last four innings, Rahul scored more than 80 runs in three innings while batting in the middle order (number five) in India’s last ODI series in New Zealand. The credit needs to go to Rahul that he first got a hundred as an opener and then he registered scores of more than 80 while batting at number five,” Manjrekar told ANI.