Sanjay Manjrekar picks his Indian XI for Asia Cup 2023 clash against Pakistan; wants Virat Kohli to bat at No. 4

Sanjay Manjrekar wants Virat Kohli to bat at No. 4 in his preferred Indian XI for the Asia Cup 2023 clash against Pakistan.

The two sides will lock horns in a Group A fixture in Pallekele on Saturday, September 2. With KL Rahul unavailable for at least the first two games, Ishan Kishan is likely to feature in the XI and the Men in Blue might look to alter their usual batting order to accommodate him at the top.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Manjrekar opined that Kishan will be a part of the XI but might not be made to open. He reasoned:

"As KL Rahul is not fit, Ishan Kishan will become very useful for a left-right batting combination. However, considering the sort of attack Pakistan have, with Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah, India might think that they shouldn't open with him."

The former Indian batter picked his preferred top six, highlighting that Kohli might have to move a spot down from his usual batting position. He stated:

"Playing XI is a slightly easy task. I am assuming that Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan will be the top three in whichever order you play them. Then Virat Kohli at No. 4, Shreyas Iyer at No. 5 and Hardik Pandya at No. 6."

Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma are the other backup batters in India's 17-member squad. They could play either of them and leave out Shubman Gill if they want to persist with Kohli at No. 3 and don't want to bat Kishan down the order.

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"If you have bowling depth, you don't need that much batting depth" - Sanjay Manjrekar on his selection of bowlers

Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav are the two spinners in Manjrekar's XI.

Sanjay Manjrekar chose four specialist bowlers with Ravindra Jadeja as a spin-bowling all-rounder. He said:

"Ravindra Jadeja at No. 7 and then my bowlers, Kuldeep Yadav and three seamers - Mohammed Siraj, Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah. We think many times that we should have depth in batting. If you have bowling depth, you don't need that much batting depth."

The cricketer-turned-commentator does not want to compromise on bowling to add batting depth. He explained:

"No one thinks that the quality of our bowling is reducing. If you have Kuldeep Yadav, Shami, Siraj and Bumrah along with Jadeja and Hardik Pandya, it is enough bowling. If you think about batting, your bowling depth will reduce and you will be left neither here nor there."

Sanjay Manjrekar's preferred Indian XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah