"Their process was brilliant right at the start": Sanjay Manjrekar lauds India's opening pair of Abhishek-Sanju against Zimbabwe

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 27 (ANI): Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes India's right-left opening combination of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson was a very important change and that helped India a great deal against Zimbabwe in their second Super 8 fixture in the ongoing T20 World Cup in Chennai on Thursday.
Manjrekar noted that if India had gone with two left-handers, Ishan Kishan alongside Abhishek Sharma to open the innings as they did earlier in the tourmanent then Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza would have brought himself in the power-play with his offspin, and because of Samson, he couldn't do that.
Indian opener before this Zimbabwe clash have faced trouble while facing offspinners in the power-play. In six fixtures so far in the ongoing T20 WC, offspinners have the better of Indian openers four times inside the power-play.
"I thought India's process was brilliant right at the start when they had a left-hand right-hand combination to open the inning. That was a very, very important change, and that helped India a great deal. I'll tell you why. If there were two left-handers, Ishan and Abhishek at the top, Sikandar Raza would have brought himself on because it was bowling first, the pitch would have had something for him and his other offspin in the first six overs, and that would have been a little troublesome," Sanjay Manjrekar said in a video posted on Instagram.
"Now, because there was a presence of Sanju Samson, he couldn't do that, and that meant that the offspinners were introduced a little late, and when spinners were introduced, India's run rate dropped for just a little bit but the left-hand right-hand combination at the top was a very important change for India and which worked beautifully," he added.
It may have taken some time to find the right balance, but India appears to have finally locked in their best batting mix at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
It was the new-look opening pair of Sharma (55) and Samson (24) that did the damage during the early overs, with Ishan Kishan (38), Suryakumar Yadav (33), Hardik Pandya (50*) and Tilak Varma (44*) all getting in on the act as India posted the highest score of the T20 World Cup so far (256/4) and the second biggest in the tournament's history against Zimbabwe on Thursday in Chennai.
Manjrekar also backed India's decision to move Tilak Varma down the order and believes Varma feels less pressure when he's batting down the order as opposed to number three.
Coming to bat at No. 6, Varma played his best innings of the ongoing T20 WC. He slammed 44 runs of just 16 balls laced with 3 fours and 4 sixes.
"Tilak Varma down the order. Good move from India. I've seen this guy bat down the order. I just feel that he feels less pressure when he's batting down the order as opposed to number three. So I think that is the slot for him in the bigger game that will come after this, which also means that Hardik Pandya got a chance to bat higher up in the batting order," he concluded.
India got contributions from all of their top six batters as they put Zimbabwe to the sword in Chennai on Thursday, setting up a cut-throat clash against the West Indies at Eden Gardens that will determine who claims the final spot in the knockout stages.
Zimbabwe's 72-run loss to India, following a 107-run loss to West Indies, has sealed their exit from the T20 World Cup, with South Africa qualifying for the semifinal from their group and the shoot-off for the second semifinal spot in Group 1 being between India and West Indies, who will play a virtual knockout match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 1. (ANI)