Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar said Ravindra Jadeja, the all-rounder, needs to show the selectors that he can be a replacement for Dinesh Karthik at No.6 or 7 or a Hardik Pandya.
Ravindra Jadeja has emerged as an almost indispensable member of India’s side in all three formats, thanks to some consistent performance with the bat and his ever-bankable fielding skills. While his batting has reached new heights and his fielding has maintained lofty standards, the same cannot be said for his bowling. As incredible as it may sound, Jadeja’s bowing has been his weakest three-dimensional skill in recent years. He has failed to provide crucial breakthroughs in Test and ODI cricket, and he has leaked runs at a reasonable rate in T20Is. Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar commented on the same issue, saying Jadeja, the all-rounder, needs to show the selectors that he can be a replacement for Dinesh Karthik at No.6 or 7 or a Hardik Pandya.
“If he is going to be a batting all-rounder, then has got to show that he is an adequate replacement to somebody like a Dinesh Karthik, who is likely to bat at No. 6 or No. 7, or somebody like a Hardik Pandya at No. 6,” Manjrekar told Sports18.
Jadeja also faces tough competition from Axar Patel, who is a like-for-like replacement of him and has finally started to showcase his batting skills at the international stage. Axar, who has always been a better bowler in white-ball cricket, never quite manage to translate his batting talent into performance till the West tour, where he won an ODI single-handedly India and also played useful cameos throughout the ODI and T20I series.