Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has named his playing XI for IND vs AUS 1st Test which begins on November 22 in Perth. Abhimanyu Easwaran, whose India debut has been much delayed, has found a spot in the top-order and will be Rohit Sharma’s replacement. Notable omissions from the line-up include Sarfaraz Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Devdutt Padikkal.
Sanjay Manjrekar’s playing XI for IND vs AUS 1st Test
- Abhimanyu Easwaran
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Dhruv Jurel
- Virat Kohli
- Rishabh Pant
- KL Rahul
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Washington Sundar
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Mohammed Siraj
- Akash Deep
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Why should Abhimanyu Easwaran open?
Sanjay Manjrekar explained why he preferred Abhimanyu Easwaran as Rohit Sharma‘s replacement as opener over KL Rahul. He pointed out that Easwaran was picked in the side as a reserve opener because of his tremendous performance in domestic circuit. He claimed that Easwaran should not be ignored in the XI just because of a couple of poor performances in the Australia A tour.
“You picked him as an opener because of his tremendous performance at the first-class level. And if you’re not going to value that and go buy a couple of warmup matches in conditions that you’ve been exposed to for the first time, it’s not the right thing to do, and it’s not like KL Rahul as an opening option is setting the stage on fire,” Manjrekar said.
Dhruv Jurel at number 3?
Manjrekar backed Dhruv Jurel to ace his role at number three, noting that he looked the best among Indian batters in the warm-up match. He added that India should be smart about using the resources available and that Jurel should rather be given the opportunity to bat in the top-order instead of KL Rahul.
Washington Sundar in, Nitish Reddy out
The former Indian cricketer said that Washington Sundar simply cannot be dropped after his phenomenal performances against New Zealand. He added that he would rather sacrifice a pace bowler and have the all-rounder instead.
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