Sanjay Manjrekar questions Shubman Gill’s captaincy on opening day of Lord’s Test against England

Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes Indian skipper Shubman Gill made the mistake of introducing the spinners late on the opening day of the Lord’s Test against England. Spin was introduced by Gill when he gave Ravindra Jadeja his first over of the day after seamers’ quartet of Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, and Nitish Kumar Reddy collectively bowled 47 overs.

Manjrekar highlighted that Gill gave importance to the Lord’s record, as 89% of wickets have been picked by the pacers in the recent past. When Jadeja and Washington Sundar bowled on the opening day, there was some help on the surface for the spinners, especially for the former.

“I think everyone will agree that spin was introduced very late, and it’s something that Shubman Gill must make a mental note of. Now, Australia, with the kind of seam attack that they have, and in the past as well, during the Mitchell Johnson or Glenn McGrath days, they never kept that spinner of some quality out of the game for too long. I thought Gill went with the record of Lord’s, where 89% of wickets are picked by pacers, plus what the seamers had done in the last Test,” Manjrekar said on ESPN Cricinfo.

“The lesson for him was that if the seamers are proving to be ineffective, because of the conditions or sometimes you can just lose form, you must never forget about the two bowlers, who may not look likely to get wickets, but will get you wickets because they are pure bowlers. It is not a wild card that you are playing, they are two proper pure spinners, and you must learn to keep them around,” he added.

Meanwhile, England captain Ben Stokes decided to bat first after winning the toss. Furthermore, England batters adopted a sedate approach as they posted 251-4 at a run rate of 3.02.

“As far as the match is concerned, clearly the pressure has got to Ben Stokes. More than how they batted and the overall approach, what they did after winning the toss on a ground where bowling first has actually gotten more winning results. So, pressure on,” he said.

Manjrekar hailed India’s inexperienced team for competing against England without big names like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Mohammad Shami.

“All other things that have followed has a lot to do with the pitch conditions and general sort of cricketing conditions today. This is just unbelievable that we are talking about this team without three key players, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Mohammed Shami, competing in this fashion,” he added.

India would look to come up with a better bowling show on the second day.