Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has highlighted that Indian batters are struggling against the spinners in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. Manjrekar also noted that the Indian batters are being found wanting when the fast bowlers are taking the pace off.
India was bowled out for a meagre score of 111 in the run-chase of 188 against South Africa in the Super 8 clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday and suffered a heavy loss of 76 runs.
India kept losing wickets at regular intervals and they were never in the game in the second innings. Manjrekar wants the home team to rejig their batting order and promote batters in the order, who are good against the spinners.
Sanjay Manjrekar said on Instagram handle, “The other thing which was glaring in this game against South Africa was even the pace bowlers, when they take the pace off, Indian batters are struggling. The captain struggled the most now, when the pace is taken off.”
“India is struggling against spin. So how do you solve that? Try and rearrange the batting order in a way that naturally good players of spin are batting up the order, and people like Tilak Varma, who is struggling a little bit, can come down the order.”
Manjrekar wants India to back Kuldeep Yadav into the playing XI for the upcoming matches.
“When the batting is uncertain, not firing, very often you try and get more batting depth. There’s another way to cover that weakness is by having a stronger bowling attack. So, get Kuldeep Yadav in. Varun can have a bad day as we’ve seen. If Kuldeep Yadav had played today, who knows, against David Miller, India could have got a wicket at that time.
“So, yes, try and make a change that is possible and immediately effective, and then work on the more complex problems of getting the batters to get better against spin and when the pace is taken off.”
India will next take on Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Thursday.
















