After India’s embarrassing loss to Australia in the final of the 2023 ICC World Test Championship (WTC) at The Oval in London in early June, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar made a suggestion to the officials. The Indian team got a lot of flak for how badly they did in the ICC knockout matches after they lost the very important Test match. In the one-off Test, only Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur scored more than fifty runs in a single game.
Sanjay Manjrekar made a point of saying that Steve Smith and Travis Head, who don’t usually play limited-overs cricket, were Australia’s best players in the WTC final.
The former cricket player told Team India to look for players who won’t get tired when the game changes from T20 to the longer version.
“Steve Smith and Travis Head, who are the key players for Australia in the WTC final, don’t play a lot of Twenty20 cricket. So we have to find guys who won’t be tired or have to change their game from IPL to Test cricket, Manjrekar was quoted by News 18 as saying.
The 57-year-old went on to say that the selectors need to start rewarding players who do well in domestic cricket and can also do well in overseas situations. He also said that for the next Test series, he would like to see at least three new hitters and fast bowlers on the team.
“It’s about time we started giving rewards to people who do well in first-class cricket. And not just runs. The pickers could look at players who have what it takes to become Test players in the future and do well in situations outside of their home country. I’d like to see at least three new hitters and new fast bowlers join the team,” he said.
In July and August, India will go on a tour of the West Indies, where they will play two Tests, three ODIs, and five T20Is. The two-match Test series will be their first job in the new World Test Championship cycle (2023–25). Rohit Sharma and his team should arrive in the West Indies on July 1.
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