Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has named Varun Chakravarthy, Hardik Pandya, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav as India’s X-factors for the T20 World Cup. Manjrekar said India is the strongest team in the upcoming T20I showpiece.
The quintet of Varun Chakravarthy, Hardik Pandya, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav are in fine form and they would look to deliver their best in the upcoming T20I showpiece.
Manjrekar said England, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are also potent teams in the World Cup.
“So I look at four teams that are the strongest teams in this World T20. Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand. India, I think is the best team in this tournament, as in the strongest team and the team that has the best chance to win the trophy. And the reason I say that I have a very simple method to look at any team and their chances of winning. I look at the X factor in the team and namely players who have that extra bit that can change the course of the game.”
“The more of those players that you have in a team, more chances are that you’ll bounce back from a bad start or change the course of the game while the other team is on the top. You’ll have a Varun Chakaravarthy coming in and taking three wickets and changing the course of the match. And India have many of such players. To name a few, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav. We have Ishan Kishan now. There’s Hardik Pandya,” he added.
Manjrekar highlighted that India has a potent bowling line-up as they have quality bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, and Varun Chakravarthy.
He concluded, “Bowling, very important. The other team that I mentioned, the strong team, don’t quite have as many X factors in their bowling that India has. India have at least three. Bumrah, the master. Then you’ve got Varun Chakaravarthy, another X factor bowler. And Kuldeep Yadav on Indian pitches. I may have missed a few Indian batters, but I’m thinking India has at least six or seven X factor players as opposed to the other teams, which don’t have quite as many.”
