Sanjay Manjrekar, a former India cricketer has told the country’s Test skipper Rohit Sharma to refrain from playing T20 tactics in Test format. The advice has come as India crashed embarrassingly against New Zealand by 113 runs in the second Test at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. The side did not suffer an all Test series defeat on home soil for nearly 12 years.

What Went Wrong For India?

India’s batting folded up on Day 3, unable to chase down 359 runs, even with the solidity of Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 77. In fact, a solitary defining moment on which this game hung was probably when Rishabh Pant was run out by miscommunication from Virat Kohli. Apart from that, Manjrekar also doubted the strategy of sending Washington Sundar in to bat before Sarfaraz Khan and Ravindra Jadeja. In this way, this series defeat has made India’s passage to World Test Championship final much tougher, as the team now needs to win at least four of their remaining six games.

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T20 Thinking In Tests?

“India backed themselves, batted first but 46 all out is a problem. It should have been a 180 all out, the series would have panned out differently. But I would say this though, that move to have Sarfaraz Khan bat down the order and sending Washington Sundar above him because he is a left-hander, those kind of things shouldn’t happen. It’s just bizarre. That’s one thing that Rohit Sharma needs to be careful of,” Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo.

“The T20 kind of thinking like those matchups, you should go by the overall quality of players,” he added.

Blame Cannot Be On Gautam Gambhir, Says Manjrekar

“I will still maintain that the coach has the minimal influence on a team. He does not set foot on the ground, the captain is in-charge out there. But you have to applaud him for Washington Sundar’s selection, which was an immediate hit,” said Manjrekar.

“But the move to send him ahead of Sarfaraz Khan or maybe four spinners here would have made more sense. But to put any kind of responsibility on the door of Gautam Gambhir would be terribly unfair because until now we can’t do it because in cricket, a coach has minimal influence on performances,” he added.

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India will take on New Zealand in the third and final Test from November 1 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Thereafter, they will travel to Australia for the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which starts on November 22, 2024, in Perth.