''It Has Never Worked'' – Sanjay Manjrekar Sends Strong Message to Gautam Gambhir & Rohit Sharma After BGT Series Loss

Former India batter and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar lashed out at Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir for not going ahead with specialists in the recently concluded Border Gavaskar Trophy. 

Team India instead went with players who can contribute with both bat and ball. Though this tactic worked well for the Indian team in Perth, it wasn’t enough for the side in the longer run in the remaining games of the series.

"India were slowly and steadily going away from specialists. The history of Test cricket will tell you that it has never worked. May have worked in one or two games where you have guys more for their secondary skill,” Sanjay Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo.

"They should stop dead in their tracks. (Ravindra) Jadeja I can understand, but after that you had a Washington Sundar. You had a Nitish Kumar Reddy, but Jadeja is likely to be more consistent as a batter. India should stop right there and go back to having pure batters and pure bowlers,” he added.

“Onus was more on Rohit Sharma” - Sanjay Manjrekar

Moreover, Manjrekar stated that skipper Rohit Sharma should have played a bigger role in the team selection despite Gambhir's different perspective. Notably, this series defeat eliminated India’s chances of qualifying for the WTC Final.

"Rahul Dravid was a big one on specialists and giving everybody a long rope. Somewhere, the onus was more on Rohit Sharma to continue what has been a winning kind of approach. The captain should have played a stronger role in team selection. More depth India had, more matches they lost eventually."

Though India started off the series on a good note with a win in Perth, they couldn’t create an impact in the Pink Ball Test, suffering a 10-wicket loss in Adelaide. They went on to draw the third Test in Brisbane. They suffered defeats in Melbourne and Sydney by 184 runs and six wickets respectively.

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