Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar wasn’t quite pleased after openers KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal holed out despite offering a stable start for India in the Manchester Test against England on Wednesday.
Sent into bat by England skipper Ben Stokes, Rahul and Jaiswal batted out the entire morning session, scoring 78 runs for no loss in 26 overs. However, Rahul fell immediately at the start of play post Lunch, with the Karnataka batter falling to Chris Woakes on 46.
Back amongst the runs with a half-century, Jaiwal was the next to fall as he was lured into a hard poke by left-arm spinner Liam Dawson, caught ably by Harry Brook at first slip, ending his 151-ball vigil on 61. India then went onto have a mixed day, losing Rishabh Pant to an injury and half-centurion Sai Sudharsan on 66 in the final hour’s play before entering stumps at 264 for four.
Manjrekar questioned whether mental fatigue played a role in the openers losing their resolve after stable starts.
“When you look at the overall pie, you can see how wonderfully this Test match is going. There’s a promise of another intriguing test match. You saw the first session, an important one, go to India and then England, making that second session their own. We saw two set batters get out – KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal. You wonder. I don’t know whether I’m reading too much into it, whether it’s mental fatigue from the long series.
“These are guys who’ve got runs. These aren’t batters who will get a 50 and let the advantage go. They didn’t quite dig in and get a big 100. Has that got something to do with mental stamina, the reserves that you need? They have played so well until now to drop another kind of level of commitment and grind, whether they have it in there,” Manjrekar said on JioHotstar.
However, Rahul and Jaiswal received plaudits from former England captain Nasser Hussain and ex-India head coach Ravi Shastri.
Story continues below this ad
Meanwhile, Former England skipper Nasser Hussain hailed the seasoned Indian opener KL Rahul following his strong run with the bat in the ongoing five-match series of the
“He (Rahul) has wonderful technique. He plays almost like an English opening batter, and it is a real valuable asset for this Indian side to have,” Hussain told Sky Sports.
Rahul became only the fifth Indian batter to complete 1000 Test runs in England with his first 400-run series in his career, joining Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, and Virat Kohli in an illustrious club.
Meanwhile, Shastri lauded Jaiswal for curbing his natural aggression during the knock.
Story continues below this ad
“This tour of England will make Jaiswal twice the player he is. He was prepared to guts it out this morning after his failures at Lord’s – he gave respect to the conditions and the new ball. Then he started playing positive shots around half an hour before lunch – the uppercut, the slash over the slips,” Shastri noted.
