The first day of the Kanpur Test between India and Bangladesh was lost to rain. On the first day of this Test, which started on Friday, September 27, only 35 overs could be played, in which the Bangladeshi team, batting first, scored 107 runs losing 3 wickets. Team India had won the toss and captain Rohit Sharma had decided to bowl first but this move did not seem to work much. The fast bowlers did not get the help that the Indian team had expected and chose to bowl first. Similar questions have started being raised on this, but famous commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has drawn attention to a different issue which puts Rohit Sharma's captaincy in the dock.

This match started late due to rain at Green Park Stadium. The conditions in Kanpur were windy, so perhaps the Indian team management decided to bowl first, which is rarely seen in a Test match on any ground in India, including Kanpur. Even after 9 years, in a test match played in India, the captain of Team India won the toss and decided to bowl first. In such a situation, Rohit's decision came under question. Then Team India did not get successes as quickly as expected and took only 3 wickets in 35 overs.

Questions raised on not getting Jadeja to bowl

Captain Rohit used 4 bowlers during this period, in which all three fast bowlers and Ravichandran Ashwin bowled these 35 overs. In this, 2 wickets were taken by pacer Akash Deep and one wicket was taken by veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. This means that left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja did not get to bowl even a single over and former Indian batsman and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has raised questions on this decision of Rohit. This question is about not getting Ravindra Jadeja to bowl against the Bangladesh top order full of left-handed batsmen.

Manjrekar mentioned some statistics of Ravindra Jadeja in a post on social media platform 'X' and wrote that Rohit needs to be shown these. These figures were from the 2016 Test series between India and England, in which Jadeja made left-handed batsman and former England captain Alastair Cook his victim 6 times in 8 innings and only 75 runs were spent against him. Manjrekar wrote that whenever left-handed batsmen are at the crease, Rohit never bowls Jadeja quickly.

Rohit needs to be shown this stat-
JADEJA vs COOK, 2016 series:
In 8 innings, got him out 6 times, conceded just 75 runs.

Rohit tends to not bowl Jadeja early when there are left landers out there. #INDvsBANTEST

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) September 27, 2024

Is it really wrong not to use Jadeja?

The first 4 players of Bangladesh's batting order are left-handed batsmen. It is generally believed that right-arm off-spinners should be used against left-handed batsmen because they tend to bowl outside off, while bowling to left-handed bowlers is often avoided because of their ability to bowl to left-handed batsmen. Hand batsmen are able to bat against them more easily. Based on this logic, this decision seems right for once, but it is not that left-arm bowlers cannot make that impact. Jadeja has also made left-handed batsmen his victims 102 times out of 299 Test wickets in his career. In such a situation, Manjrekar's question seems justified for once.