Asia Cup 2022: Pinning BLAME on Arshdeep Singh is not FAIR, says Sanjay Manjrekar

Team India pacer Arshdeep Singh is just 23 years of age and already thrown into the deep end as he tries to deal with the pressures of India vs Pakistan matches. On Sunday (September 4), nerves got the better of Arshdeep as he dropped a simple catch of Pakistan batter Asif Ali in the 18th over of the game.

Asif went on to hammer Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a crucial six in the next over – which cost 19 runs – as India lost their Super 4 match in Asia Cup 2022 to Pakistan by five wickets. Arshdeep was trolled brutally on social media and even his Wikipedia page was defaced with people billing him as a ‘Khalistani’.

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar said that it’s not fair to blame Arshdeep Singh as the reason for the loss. “I’m going to become like a psychologist. I'll go very deep into the psyche of people. What is pressure? Pressure is when you have to perform an act and when performing the act, a thought comes into your head that this is a very important act. That’s when pressure gets to you. So, in normal course, Chinmay for example would have taken that catch. Anybody would have taken that catch who’s played a bit of cricket,” Sanjay Manjrekar said on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show ‘Sports over the top’.

Mohali, Punjab | "We went to watch the match. India-Pak match is always interesting. Fans get emotional, angry when their team loses and say a few words. We are taking it positively and there is no problem," says Darshan Singh, father of Indian cricketer Arshdeep Singh pic.twitter.com/UqHvr7GbNC — ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2022

“Arshdeep would have taken that catch normally, almost with one eye closed, 99 times out of 100. Maybe a thought that this is India vs Pakistan. This is a crucial catch and Asif Ali got him to drop that. It's one of those things that happens. And that’s why I didn't ask Rohit Sharma whether that catch was the turning point. Because it shouldn’t be just one drop catch at a certain stage of the game. Pinning the blame on Arshdeep Singh, a young cricketer would not have been fair. You don't lose cricket matches because of one moment. There are many contributing factors with which you lose a game, because all of those factors come by,” Manjrekar added.

Manjrekar further explained whether Hardik Pandya is a viable 5th bowling option. “I think there were important lessons that came through last night and you could see Rohit Sharma on the field was pretty animated. I think they’ve made some important notes. One thing that came through for me and I’m sure for the team management as well is that if you at some point of time want to play just three medium pacers, Hardik Pandya cannot be one of the three.

“Hardik is great when he knows that he is the 4th seamer, and he can afford to have an off day and somebody else will come and take over like Jadeja could bowl a couple of overs and Hardik Pandya if he’s not bowling well, not getting wickets could be happy with two. So that is one issue that came out.

“Plus, the fact I remember on this platform itself raving about the depth of the seam bowling talent that India had in T20 cricket. Now the reality is, coming out in the open and there are some guys who promised but are not able to rise to the occasion and match the standards and the pressure that is there in these kinds of matches and this India-Pakistan match here will be like every game in that T20 World Cup,” Manjrekar said about Hardik Pandya’s bowling.