Hyderabad: In the ongoing World Cup, India secured their place in the semi-finals with a strong performance. India has maintained a perfect record by winning all eight matches of the league stage so far. Ex-member of the national selection committee Sanjay Jagdale expressed his satisfaction with this performance of the Men in Blue.
Sanjay Jagdale, who played 53 matches for Madhya Pradesh in domestic cricket, attributed India's good performance to the balance of the team. "Team India's bowling is good for all the conditions," he said. Due to the absence of all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has been ruled out of the marquee tournament, due to an ankle injury, the balance of the team has deteriorated slightly.
"Hardik, India's sixth bowling option and an aggressive batter was ruled out, but even then the team performed well. "Every player in the team is playing the role given to him perfectly, that's why this was possible," he said. Rohit Sharma is setting an example: Captain Rohit Sharma is setting an example with his aggressive batting in this World Cup, said Sanjay Jagdale.
"Rohit's World Cup record (as a batter) is excellent. Apart from this, he is also performing well as a captain. He sets the tempo with his batting, which does not put pressure on the middle-order. Due to his aggressive batting, the ball becomes soft, which makes it easy for the later batters to score runs," opined Jagdale, who was also the former BCCI secretary. Rohit Sharma is the fourth-highest run-getter in the ongoing World Cup with 442 runs to his credit. The Mumbaikar has led from the front and given the side aggressive starts along with Shubman Gill.
Jagdale also heaped praise on all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who plays for Saurashtra in the domestic circuit and played a key role in the team's 243-run over South Africa at the Eden Gardens on Sunday by clinching a fifer. Jadeja is special for the team: Sanjay Jagdale also appreciated the performance of all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. "A player like him is special for every team, he said. "Jadeja contributes something in every match. Be it batting, bowling or fielding, he is amazing in every field. He provides a great balance to the team. He is always available for the team', remarked Jagdale.
The match was pulled within 10 overs: India defeated South Africa by 243 runs in Sunday's match. The South African team, which has been scoring runs in every match so far, was all out for just 83 runs. Sanjay Jagdale said that India had won this match in the first 10 overs itself. "South African team always stumbles while chasing runs. India scored 300 plus in yesterday's match. This was not a wicket that could be batted on comfortably. But (Shubman) Gill and Rohit (Sharma)turned the match towards India by hitting aggressively in the opening overs," the 73-year-old former administrator noted.
England team could not settle in India: The defending champions England's performance in this World Cup was very poor and the Jos Buttler-led side is languishing at the bottom of the table with just one win and six losses. Sanjay Jagdale expressed his opinion on what could be the reason behind this. "England's team looked very balanced on paper. Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes in their team have a lot of experience of playing in India. But in this World Cup, England's team looked broken. It could not come into form at the right time. Also, they could not settle in India," Sanjay Jagdale concluded.
