Former Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar once called Ravindra Jadeja a “bits and pieces’ cricketer but now he feels the all-rounder’s services have been underused by skipper Rohit Sharma. On Day 1 of the ongoing Test at Green Park Stadium, Kanpur, left-arm spinner Jadeja did not bowl a single over. Manjrekar feels that Jadeja should have bowled because of his record against left-handed batters. He reminded Rohit that Jadeja has dismissed former England captain Alastair Cook six out of eight innings.
"This is an ongoing trend even in Test cricket, but when you have a quality bowler like Jadeja, who has a good record against left-handers. Remember, he dismissed Alastair Cook six times in eight innings. So not giving him the ball at all was baffling," Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo.
Rohit favours Ashwin more?
Manjrekar went on to say that Rohit favours Ravichandran Ashwin more when it comes to bowling against left-handed batters. He also thinks that match-ups should not be taken seriously.
"Every captain has an approach, keeping in mind the bowlers he has. It's nothing wrong because captains tend to trust some bowlers more. I have noticed this, not particularly in this series, when it comes to spin, Rohit favors Ashwin a bit more. Yes he did have a reason here because there were two left-handers, but match-ups should merely be guidelines," Manjrekar said.
In order to prove his point, Manjrekar recalled Shakib Al Hasan troubling Rishabh Pant in the first Test. The wicketkeeper-batter’s catch was dropped off Shakib’s bowling.
"As you see in this series, in the previous match, Shakib Al Hasan had troubled Rishabh Pant, and there was also a dropped catch scenario," added the 59-year-old.
Number of overs bowled on Day 1 of Kanpur Test
Ashwin bowled a total of nine overs out of 35 on Day 1. He got the wicket of skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto. The left-handed batter was trapped in front of the crease when he was batting on 31. While Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj went wicketless after bowling nine and seven overs respectively, Akash Deep got rid of both openers Zakir Hasan and Shadman Islam.
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