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Ravindra Jadeja's selection backfired: Sanjay Manjrekar on India's WTC loss

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has pointed out the reason for the team’s defeat in the final of the inaugural World Test Championship against New Zealand in Southampton. Manjrekar said that the decision of selecting Ravindra Jadeja for his batting ability has backfired for the side in the final. 

“If you have to look at how India went about before the game started, picking two spinners was always a debatable selection especially when the conditions were overcast and the toss was delayed by a day," Manjrekar said on ESPNcricinfo. 

“They picked one player for his batting, which was Jadeja, and his left-arm spin wasn’t the reason he was picked. He was picked for his batting and that is something that I am always against," Manjrekar furthered his point.

This is not the first time that Manjrekar has commented upon Jadeja’s selection in the side. Manjrekar had called the left-arm all-rounder ‘bits and pieces’ player after which he faced a lot of backlash on social media.

India suffered a defeat against the Kiwis in the WTC final after they chased down a target of 139 runs on the reserve day, courtesy, a fine half-century from captain Kane Williamson and an unbeaten 47 from Ross Taylor. 

Jadeja only managed to pick up one wicket in two innings while scoring 15 runs in the first innings and 16 in the second. The Virat Kohli-led side will now play a five-match Test series against England in August. 




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