'Jadeja needs to toil hard for his world cup berth', reckons Sanjay Manjrekar

With each passing day, the discussions regarding India's ideal playing eleven in the upcoming T20 world cup are getting intensified as we are inching towards the mega event. While the return of Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik has strengthened India's firepower, it has simultaneously created a lot of competition among players who are fighting for a spot in the lower middle order.  

The former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes that the availability of several such monstrous hitters down the order might shut the door for someone like Ravindra Jadeja. Speaking to First post, Manjrekar opined that the presence of Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant has ensured India of enough dynamism in their batting line up, which is why the Indian think tank might prioritise picking a bowling allrounder in Axar Patel in place of Ravindra Jadeja. 

However, Manjrekar seemed confident in Jadeja's abilities to perform admirably in the upcoming T20 series, thereby posing a strong case for his inclusion in India's squad for the mega event. 

"Clearly, Dinesh Karthik has shown that he can be a number 6 or 7 as a pure batter. The impact that he is making is phenomenal and we saw that in T20Is against South Africa and also in the IPL. So, it's not really going to be easy for Jadeja to come in and take his place and India might settle in with somebody like Axar Patel", Manjrekar said. "But knowing the kind of player Jadeja is, he will be making sure that the headache doesn't get less for the selectors", he further added. 

Continuing, the legendary Mumbai-batter said that the clock has started ticking for Rishabh Pant as the swashbuckling southpaw has continuously struggled in T20Is in recent times. Addressing Pant as an enigmatic player, Manjrekar hailed his test exploits and urged the Delhi-born keeper-batter to live up to his potential in white ball cricket. 

"The kind of performances that we have seen from all the guys, Rishabh Pant will feel the pressure of having to perform. My thing is to wait and watch with Rishabh Pant because he is different, and enigmatic and he has shown it at the Test level. He is a remarkable player. But in the white-ball cricket, he is someone who is still in the process of telling exactly what kind of a player he is", the 56-year-old concluded.