The Hindu : My 15... Sanjay Manjrekar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 17, 2002

Sport

Sport - Cricket

My 15... Sanjay Manjrekar

Virender Sehwag, Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohd. Kaif, Vijay Dahiya, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Murali Kartik, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Sanjay Bangar.

There, that is my team for the World Cup. Note that I have Sehwag and Ganguly continuing to open for India with Tendulkar at No. 3.

I just think Sehwag with his unique and bold batting approach and also his ability to shock bowlers when their good deliveries disappear to the ropes is the right man to start the innings. More than the amount of runs he scores, it's his flair that mesmerises the opposition very early in the innings and helps India start on the right foot. India's opponents in the preliminary stage, apart from England, have not quite experienced the `opener Sehwag blast'. This will be India's strength.

Ganguly we all know is best utilised as a one day batsman only when he is opening the innings. He has done a fine job as opener over the years and seems to be thoroughly enjoying batting with Sehwag these days. Boundary hitters, that's what you want your openers to be in the first fifteen overs of a limited overs game.

Tendulkar, a far more complete batsman than the two openers is the ideal No. 3. A pivotal position where his greatness will allow him to adapt to any given match situation quite comfortably.

Dravid has been positioned at No. 4 in my team because there has been a remarkable improvement in the way he is able to rotate strike these days.

He will flourish in S.A. when the field is spread, more than in the restrictive overs when you are often expected to hit boundaries to keep the score board ticking over and stay in hunt.

Then come the two exciting young turks, Yuvraj and Kaif, largely responsible for the renewed hope in Indian cricket. The duo will always be a big threat to the opposition for their ability to turn matches around.

I am not quite a gambler so I have gone for Vijay Dahiya. He is more reliable with the gloves than Dravid and I have watched Dahiya closely enough to believe that with a little more self belief he can be real potent batting weapon.

After that, the team is quite predictable. Three competent spinners in the squad will ensure there is healthy contest for places for every World Cup game.

The general idea while picking the team is to pack it with players who the captain will not be shy to play in a big World Cup match. Please let's not have the `Walsons' and `Khurasiyas' to warm reserve benches through the World Cup this time. I must confess picking the 15th player was tough for me. Sanjay Bangar got the nod purely because of his honest approach to the game, resulting in performances that have surprised a few, especially in the one dayers. I'am just hoping to surprise people has become his habit.

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