Asia Cup 2023: 'Hope They Just Play Like MS Dhoni'- Sanjay Manjrekar Wants India To Play Knockouts Like Any Other Games

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar talked about whether Team India can break the jinx of winning the ICC title. He said that they should play like how MS Dhoni used to play in the knockout games and treat the semi-final and finals like any other game.

India have been a dominating force in world cricket with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and many other players in the team. But when it comes to ICC tournaments, they have been lacking somewhere as since 2013 they haven’t won any big tournaments and have faced 9 consecutive losses in ICC tournaments.

India have played well in the league stages of the tournament, in fact, they have dominated that. But when it comes to the knockout games they look like a ordinary team. They have failed to soak in the pressure and have delivered some really poor performances in the big games.

The upcoming ICC World Cup 2023 will be a grand opportunity for them to end their title drought. The reason behind this has been the tournament will be played in India and there are no better team than them in these conditions. It’s fair to say that if they manage to handle the pressure of the big games, no one can stop them from lifting the trophy.

Sanjay Manjrekar highlighted that India’s biggest challenge will be to go through big games. He urged them to play the knockout games like any other matches. Speaking on Star Sports/ESPNCricinfo, he said:

“For India, in the ICC events, it’s not about getting through to semis. India’s problem has been the big night. I just hope and pray, with the kind of talent that they have, that they just play like Mahendra Singh Dhoni used to play a semi-final or a World Cup final, like it was any other game. That’s the only challenge for India considering their record in the big tournaments.”

Asia Cup 2023: This is a very good squad – Sanjay Manjrekar on India’s squad

Sanjay Manjrekar further lauded selectors for picking a good squad for the Asia Cup 2023. He feels that planning is in place and the team just needs to go through big games. He elaborated:

“Well done [to the selectors]. This is a very good squad and is very close to the World Cup squad. I think couple of players would be omitted and we know who the fringe players are, who are likely to be under some pressure during the Asia Cup. Good squad. The planning and everything is in place. It’s now just about the big nights.”

Here’s the Indian squad for the Asia Cup 2023:

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, and Sanju Samson (back up).