Defeating West Indies in T20I series is a big achievement for India: Manjrekar

Mumbai, Aug 9

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has said Rohit Sharma's side defeating West Indies in their backyard was no mean achievement, adding that the visitors should be proud of what they have achieved in the Caribbean. India defeated West Indies 4-1 in the T20I series recently on the back of making a clean sweep of the three-match ODI series.

"Let's be nice to the West Indies. They're good people to hang with and stuff like that. Well, I think you know what's really nice to see is West Indies and T20 cricket are no minnows or rollovers. So, India's win and the way they've won in the five T20s is something to be proud of," Manjrekar said on Sports18's show 'Sports Over the Top'.

The cricketer-turned-commentator was also in praise of the experiments India made over the course of the T20I series, saying they worked to perfection which is great going forward.

"The various permutations and combinations, India didn't play a single wrist spinner in the first three T20s and then they unloaded two wrist spinners in the last two. Opener Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan comes in. So they've tried everything and everything's worked. So, this is a great situation to be in and absolute taking no credit away from India from these wins because West Indies you know, you'll see in the T20 World Cup, they'll have some good performances against the other teams. So, well done to India," added Manjrekar.

Manjrekar further spoke about the competition between Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan for a place in the T20 World Cup squad in Australia.

"There is actually a nice race going on for that flight to Australia to get that seat in business class. You know these guys travel business class. We used to be in economy, so I say that very sort of grudgingly. So, a race going on to clamour to get those seats on business class to Australia. And that's where I think you would have to say Arshdeep Singh has overtaken Avesh Khan. Avesh Khan is slightly behind there and that is something that's very interesting.

"You know this is a real competition going on for sports. Arshdeep Singh has certainly taken a little lead over Avesh Khan because he's doing exactly what Avesh Khan's role is -- to go with the new ball in the middle and in the death as well."

--IANS