Sanjay Manjrekar
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The former India cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar says India is better in absorbing pressure than England ahead of the five-match Test series, and that writing the visitors off would be all but a mistake.

India currently is playing a three-day warm-up game against Essex in Chelmsford.

Sanjay Manjrekar
Sanjay Manjrekar

India will be aiming to win the Test Series this time on the English soil after 11 years. It was in 2007 under the leadership of Rahul Dravid, when the Men in Blue had won the three-match Test series 1-0. Since then, the visitors had faced defeats on the past two tours.

“Still, don’t rule India out, because if it gets tight, this Indian team can 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.

Temperamentally this is one of the best teams India have ever had. We saw evidence of that in their last Test, against South Africa at the Wanderers earlier this year,” Manjrekar wrote in his column for ESPNCricinfo.

India to miss Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah

India will be missing the services of their key members in the pace attack. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah are the concerned one, and both would be on sidelines due to injuries.

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Bhuvneswar Kumar, on the one hand, didn’t get picked for the England Tests, whereas, Jasprit Bumrah would be available for the Lords game, as per the word from the BCCI official.

“I wish everyone were fit; it would have made for a great series. But with all these injury setbacks for India, England start as favorites.”

The former player also compared modern Indian cricket with the cricket of the 1990s.
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,” Manjrekar wrote.

KL Rahul is a future weapon – Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar also said KL Rahul has the potential to bat outside Asia. Manjraker told that dropping Rahul from the final ODI against England was a blunder from the skipper. He further added Rahul has a potential to become India’s lethal weapon in times to come.

“On their last significant stretch of overseas trips, from 2013 through 2015, India’s batting was more rounded, with M Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane being a great support cast to Kohli.

Since then both Rahane and Vijay have dropped a few notches as batsmen, while Cheteshwar Pujara and Shikhar Dhawan have never been a force as batsmen overseas like they are in home conditions; in fact, both have lost their places in the playing XI during overseas series.”

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