Sanjay Manjrekar, the former India cricketer, turned commentator, questioned Indian batsmen’s approach against England off-spinner Moeen Ali in the second ODI of the ongoing series in Pune this Friday.
All-rounder Moeen Ali did not pick up a wicket but went for only 47 runs off his 10 overs in England’s six-wicket victory against India, which helped them level the three-match series 1-1 on Friday.
India’s mammoth score of 336/6 didn’t prove good enough as England’s top-order, featuring Jason Roy (55), Jonny Bairstow (124) and Ben Stokes (99), absolutely dominated the proceedings through the run-chase and allowed the visitors to race through to a win with more than six overs to spare.
Bairstow and Stokes were especially severe against India’s spin twins, Kuldeep Yadav (0/84) and Krunal Pandya (0/72), who collectively conceded over 150 runs from their 16 overs in the match. That merciless attitude versus Kuldeep and Krunal from Bairstow and Stokes led Manjrekar to find a contrast in the way India handled the English spinners.
Batting in a completely different scenario, India scored only 112 runs from their 20 overs faced against the England spinners, including 1/65 off the 10 overs of wrist-spinner Adil Rashid. While Rashid still conceded above six runs per over, Ali went at less than five from his complete spell.
Manjrekar, taking note of the issue, made his opinion on the matter public via social media and tweeted:
Moeen Ali bowled 10 overs for 47 runs in today’s batting conditions. It wasn’t because he bowled brilliantly it was more because Ind didn’t really go after him. Ind would look back at that as a grave mistake not to be repeated in similar conditions.
An argument could be presented to Manjrekar’s view that Ali bowled entirely when India were recovering with the bat from a precarious situation in the first half. The hosts were 37/2 at one stage before skipper Virat Kohli (66) and KL Rahul (108) went about resurrecting the innings. Moeen, taking advantage of the fact that India can’t risk losing another quick wicket, could go through an economical spell without much pressure on him.
On the other hand, Bairstow and Stokes could go on the offensive versus Kuldeep and Krunal because they had a clear target in mind, unlike Kohli and Rahul who were trying to set-up a target for their team and couldn’t afford to miss out on runs in trying to overachieve and take risks.
Lessons to be learnt for India from loss in 2nd ODI: Sanjay Manjrekar
Manjrekar, however, stood firm with his point of view via another tweet and wrote that India would do well to let the opposition’s batting strength on a flat pitch decide their own course of action with the bat.
Quality of opposition’s batting an important consideration when assessing par score along with pitch and ground conditions. Lesson learnt for India tonight,
he tweeted.
Manjrekar played 37 Tests and 74 for India and became one of the finest commentators after his retirement.
Despite question marks on their approach against Moeen, India still reached a total that many deemed to be par for the course. KL Rahul ended with a superbly timed century where he showed a wide range to his batsmanship. It was his 5th ODI hundred from 37 matches in the format. The batsman has been terrific since being slotted in the middle-order and given the responsibility to keep as well (in the 2nd ODI, though, it was Rishabh Pant who wore the gloves).
Captain Kohli batted well for his half-century, while Pant blazed his willow for a stellar knock of 77 runs from just 40 balls. Hardik Pandya, who made a quickfire 35, played his part as well in the death overs.
It was an outstanding batting effort but what followed in the second half highlighted India’s bowling issue as only experienced paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/63) and young quick Prasidh Krishna (2/58) ended with respectable figures.
The third and final one-dayer of the series will be played on Sunday, March 28).
