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Sanjay Manjrekar, the former Indian cricketer, picked his playing XI for India in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024, giving the young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal no place in it. The 58-year-old stated that the reason why he didn’t pick Yashasvi Jaiswal is because he prefers Virat Kohli to open with the captain Rohit Sharma for India.
Notably, Yashasvi Jaiswal has been quite impressive for India in T20I format since making his debut last summer against West Indies at the Providence Stadium, Guyana. In his 17 T20I appearances, the left-handed opening batter has scored 500 runs at an average of 33.46 and a strike-rate of 161.93 with a hundred and four fifties.
The 22-year-old rose to fame in cricket after showcasing his talent in the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2020, which led to Rajasthan Royals picking him up in the IPL mini auction. With the inaugural champions of the IPL, Yashasvi Jaiswal levelled up considerably in the last four years, winning the emerging player of the year award in 2023 season of the tournament.
While speaking to Star Sports, Sanjay Manjrekar spoke about he would have loved to have Yashasvi Jaiswal in his playing XI for India in the T20 World Cup 2024, but not at the expense of Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma sacrificing the opening spot for him. He was quoted as saying, as per NDTV Sports, “When you look at the batting order, you can see how it pans out. Opening pair: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli. Unfortunately, there's no place for Yashasvi Jaiswal because Virat will not bat at number three; that's a reality we have embraced.”
“I would have loved to have Jaiswal if there were no Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and we could go with a young opening pair. But that's not going to happen, so Jaiswal has to sit out,” he added.
Sanjay Manjrekar also picked Rishabh Pant ahead of Sanju Samson in his lineup for India in the T20 World Cup 2024. He remarked, “At number three, you could have Suryakumar Yadav and then Rishabh Pant. I want Pant to get into those India colours very early in the tournament because he is a big-match player.”
