Sanjay Manjrekar Rate India over England at Handling Pressures
Jan 9, 2019 at 3:45 PM
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has said that Indian Cricket team is better at handling pressures over England ahead of the five-match Test series.
Meanwhile, the gruelling Test series commences from August 1 at Edgbaston. Manjrekar noted that it will be wrong to write off India, who are aiming to win their first series in England since 2007.
However, the visitors have suffered two injuries and will miss Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. While Kumar is out of the first three Tests, Bumrah will miss the opener.
“I wish everyone was fit; it would have made for a great series. But with all these injury setbacks for India, England start as favourites,” Manjrekar wrote in ESPNCricinfo. “Still, don’t rule India out, because if it gets tight, this Indian team has the capability to come out trumps. For when it comes to handling pressure, temperamentally this team, led and inspired by [Virat] Kohli, is far superior to the hosts,” he added.
Bumrah’s injury will be a massive setback but Sanjay Manjrekar is confident that other bowlers will chip in. Talking about Virat Kohli & Co’s batting overseas, Manjrekar feels it all comes down to Virat Kohli. However, he believes KL Rahul has the talent to succeed in overseas conditions.
“Speaking of India’s batting overseas, in South Africa, England and Australia, it is now a bit like it was in the ’90s, dependent very much on one man. It was Sachin Tendulkar then, it’s Virat Kohli now,” Sanjay Manjrekar concluded.