Star sports expert

Nassau County International Cricket Stadium: Sanjay Manjrekar, the former India batter, believes that with short square boundaries offered in the upcoming Men’s T20 World Cup, having a left-right batting combination becomes crucial. At the same time, Manjrekar feels that India is slightly hampered on this front. India have four left-handed batting options in Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja, with Rinku Singh sitting in traveling reserves.

“I think there are a couple of limitations that this Indian team has. One is obviously not enough left-hand right-hand combination batters at the top, because Virat Kohli is now part of the playing eleven.”

“He has to be in the playing eleven, plus he has to open the batting. So, to get Yashasvi Jaiswal is going to be difficult, so that is one problem. Having a left-hand right-hand combination I think is crucial. I know there have been two left-handers like Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head (in IPL 2024) doing well for a certain franchise (Sunrisers Hyderabad).”