Former India and Pakistan players, Waqar Younis and Sanjay Manjrekar got into a heated debate over who will take over Yuvraj Singh’s place in the ODI World Cup.
It is no secret that Yuvraj Singh was the best player for India during the 2011 ODI World Cup that the Men in Blue won.
He scored 362 runs and scalped 15 wickets throughout the tournament and was awarded the Player of the Series.
With India once again at the cusp of another World Cup campaign, fans are in wonder as to who will play Yuvraj’s role for India this time.
According to Younis, the two players who can do so are Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja and they will be absolutely phenomenal.
Look at what Hardik and Jadeja bring to the table. They are well equipped with both bat and ball. Especially Hardik Pandya- the way he batted against Pakistan- I think he is a really destructive batter at No.6. Any team would love to have someone like him. He is aggressive, and now as we saw in the previous match, he is very sensible and smart.
The match Younis was referring to was the Group A encounter between the arch-rivals in which Hardik Pandya scored 87 runs from 90 balls.
Adding further, he says,
I feel these two at No.6 and 7 will give India that push. All they want to do is not lose early wickets. If you give these 2 last 10 overs, they can chase the game pretty quickly.
Manjrekar says Yuvraj was in a different league during his days
However, Manjrekar says that Yuvraj was in a completely different league than Pandya and Jadeja and was more disciplined.
Moreover, his main concern is whether Pandya will be able to bowl all 10 of his overs or not during the World Cup.
Yuvraj is arguably India’s best white-ball batter. He could win games and was in a different league. Hardik and Jadeja, with due respect, aren’t quite there. These two are far better bowlers than Yuvraj Singh but because that one discipline was so discipled…
Meanwhile, Younis cut Manjrekar off by saying,
Not even Hardik Pandya? With the kind of batting that he has shown? I am not comparing them but the intention is there.
Adding further, Manjrekar says,
He has the potential but when I see him at this stage, it’s not a guarantee that he will bowl all 10 overs like one of the mainstream bowlers. I see him as more of a batting all-rounder and he batted really well in the last game. So yes, they have this combined skill to make the kind of contribution made but one discipline of Yuvraj Singh, like I said, was at a different level. In pitches that help Jadeja the bowler, his batting will come through but Hardik the batter doesn’t need a bad ball or loose ball to decide that this needs to go.
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