Sanjay Manjrekar says, “Hardik Pandya feels the pressure if he is India's third seamer”
Former batsman of Indian Cricket Team Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Shardul Thakur or Mohammed Shami will replace Ravichandran Ashwin in the playing 11 of team India against Pakistan in the 2023 World Cup match if the game is played on a flat surface. India is going to take on Pakistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday, October 11. Team South Africa scored 428 for 5 in the last encounter at the stadium, while Sri Lanka responded with 326. Manjrekar added that Hardik Pandya feels the pressure if he is the third seamer.
During a discussion while sharing his point, Manjrekar said, "My view is that, unless there is a compelling reason, I don't like Hardik Pandya as your third seamer. I think he also feels the pressure if he is the third seamstress. What is likely to happen is that if the pitch is similar to the one that we had in that South Africa-Sri Lanka game, which was a belter, there was nothing there for the spinners; I don't see Ashwin playing on that surface.”
He also said that "India will add more batting depth unless they feel that they will get pace quality against Afghanistan on this flat pitch. But they have shown their cards very early, coming into the World Cup. They are not very keen to go one batter short. Shardul Thakur or Mohammed Shami is the change that I see if that's the exact same surface that we get in Delhi.”