Asia Cup 2023: If India Doesn't Lose Early Wickets, Then It's Just Their Game, Says Manjrekar

New Delhi: Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar advised the Indian top-order batter to not lose their wicket in the first ten overs and to respect the bowlers at the Asia Cup and World Cup 2023. He also drew attention to Test cricket batting style and advised to stay long at the crease.

While talking to Star Sports, Manjrekar said, "See, fortunately for India, number one, two, and three, when Virat bats at number three, they are three very good test batters. And you might talk about 50 overs being a one-day match and white-ball cricket and all that, but the start of a 50 overs game is not like a T20 match.”

"I think there are some serious Test cricket skills needed, and then Rohit Sharma got these five hundreds in the last World Cup,” he added.

Manjrekar also shed light on the techniques of top-order Indian batters and told them to play with that technique.

“I remember him respecting the bowling in the first 10 overs. And these three guys - Gill, Rohit Sharma, and Virat - who have excellent credentials as defensive test batters, that is the game they'll have to bring. If they don't lose early wickets, then it's just their game," stated Sanjay Manjrekar.

Meanwhile, another former Indian Cricketer, Sanjay Bangar in the other interview with Star Sports talked about KL Rahul’s adaptable nature and various batting combinations tried at training camp.

"KL Rahul is a very versatile player, especially when he is played as a batter. Sometimes he has opened the innings, sometimes he has batted at number 5. So, today we got to see a lot of things in this camp,” Bangar said.

“Today, we also saw different pairs of players batting together, like as we have seen in yesterday’s session - Subhman Gill and Rohit Sharma were batting in pairs. Today, KL and Rohit were batting together in pairs,” he added.

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Bangar further added, “Thus it means the team management might have this thought on their mind about whether KL Rahul can be utilized as an opening batsman. I don't think this is their first option, but obviously, they want to give their best chance for that, or they want to keep an option with them."