Sanjay Manjrekar Made a Big Statement On Rishabh Pant And Shreyas Iyer’s Captaincy: The ongoing 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League turned out to be a full-on entertainer. In the second leg of the IPL 2021, franchises put up an intense fight with each other to make it to the playoffs.
While a number of young guns have shone in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League, two veteran skippers – MS Dhoni and Eoin Morgan– will be competing against each other on the final showdown tonight.
Banking on experience over youth, Sanjay Manjrekar has made a bold statement on youngsters like Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, and Sanju Samson.
Rishabh Pant had replaced Shreyas Iyer as the skipper of Delhi Capitals after the latter incurred an injury. Under his leadership, Delhi Capitals did very well in the league stage of the campaign, finishing top of the points table, however, consecutive losses in the playoffs resulted in their elimination from the tournament after Qualifier 2 against KKR. On the other hand, Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals finished in the bottom half and hence failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Recently, in a chat with ESPNCricinfo, Sanjay Manjrekar cited the examples of KKR with Eoin Morgan as skipper and CSK with MS Dhoni as skipper and stressed the importance of having ‘specialist captains’ leading the franchises in order to gain success instead of giving captaincy to young cricketers. He said:
“The two teams that have reached the finals have been led by two seasoned captains – Morgan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. I have come to this belief at the moment based on whatever I have seen in the IPL…”
He added:
“I just wonder when you are looking at T20 specialist bowlers and batters and all-rounders, I think it’s time for us to also start looking for T20 specialist captains, you know, great T20 captains. It’s beyond me how T20 captaincy is given to a young Rishabh Pant, [he’s] still young cricket wise, young Shreyas Iyer or Sanju Samson,”
Further, Sanjay Manjrekar opined that a specialist captain can get the best out of the mediocre players as well, and the captaincy tactics can make a major difference. Explaining his point, Manjrekar gave an example of MS Dhoni and pointed out how he has been able to get the best out of his playing XI, despite the team having major weaknesses. He said:
“I just don’t understand the basis of that call because T20 captaincy is tough, it has a great impact… so I believe you’ve got to have brilliant T20 captains captaining sides and then even an ordinary side, I mean, look at CSK they have major weaknesses there but Dhoni has been able to get the best out of his playing XI. And those are the kind of captains IPL teams deserve, captains who are brilliant and just by their leadership and tactics will make a difference.”
