Sanjay Manjrekar Reckons MS Dhoni And Rishabh Pant Have 2 IPLs To Stake Their Claim In The Indian Team

Sanjay Manjrekar, former Indian batsman-turned commentator, feels both MS Dhoni and Rishabh Pant will get a couple of IPL’s to stake their claim back into the side for the T20 World Cup.

MS Dhoni hasn’t played a competitive game since India’s heartbreaking semi-final defeat to New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup. Rishabh Pant, on the other hand, lost his wicketkeeping spot to KL Rahul following a consistent run of underwhelming performances in the 2019-20 season.

Manjrkar also feels that with two IPL’s set to be played before the 2021 T20 World Cup, Indian T20 team could undergo a significant change in personnel and even the established cricketers like KL Rahul will be challenged.

“Rishabh Pant gets 2 IPLs to stake a claim, Dhoni will be playing 2 IPLs. So it will be fun.” Sanjay Manjrekar said on ‘Cricket Connected’

“The last time we saw the Indian T20 team it looked a certain way but there is going to be at least 2 IPLs I think before the next T20 World Cup. So you will have a lot of these performances coming and changing the dynamics a little bit. People who feel cemented or established in the team, will all be challenged. It will be wonderful to watch, people like Rahul who at the moment looks a certainty.” he added.

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Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson are talented but need to translate that into consistent performances: Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar also opened up on the ‘enigmatic’ characters like Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson, who despite boasting of an incredible amount of talent, haven’t been able to translate them into performances in the opportunities they have got at the international level.

“People like Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson, for me as an analyst watching the players and trying to make an assessment, sometimes predictions go right or wrong, they are both slightly enigmatic for me.” Sanjay Manjrekar added.

The former Indian international heaped high praise on the precociously talented Pant and Samson but added that ultimately it is the consistency in their performances that will help them cement their spot in the Indian T20 side.

“Rishabh Pant, definitely there is something there. There is an X-factor and he will suddenly win you games in 10 minutes, that you thought you were losing. Sanju Samson as well, the kind of batting that he has got when he is on song, he just takes your breath away.”

“But finally consistency and generally winning performances is important, there is so much cricket happening and people clamouring for a batting position. Talent is there, class is there, potential is there but finally I am going to look at Sanju Samson’s performances and Rishabh Pant’s numbers as well to make a judgement on them. So, it is another big IPL and all everyone wants from them is consistency. It can’t be one good innings and then 3-4 failures where it seems that you have just thrown it away.” Sanjay Manjrekar added.

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