"Poorly Trained NRIs": Sanjay Manjrekar's Ruthless Take On India Batters After 0-2 South Africa Disaster
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar pointed out two major problems when decoding the failure of Indian batters at home in their recently-concluded Test series against South Africa.
- Ex-India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar labelled Indian batters poorly trained after the 0-2 series loss to SA
- "Indian batters come to home very poorly trained as they've hardly played any first-class matches": Manjrekar
- "They're all class players with good records behind them, but like NRIs, like strangers at home," he said
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar labelled Indian batters 'poorly trained' in decoding their shortcomings following a disastrous 0-2 home Test series loss to South Africa. India failed to score a total of 250 in even once across their four innings in the series, as only one batter managed a single half-century. Manjrekar stated that the main reason behind the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant failing to score well in India is due to the lack of practice they get on turning tracks, largely due to not playing enough first-class matches and playing more games away from home.
Manjrekar stated that Indian batters become like NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) once they break through into Test cricket, due to the number of matches they play overseas.
"When an Indian batter scores heavily in domestic cricket and gets selected for India, he becomes like an NRI, in the sense that he hardly plays at home. It's more overseas cricket for Indian batters," said Manjrekar in a post on his Instagram account.
"Looking at numbers, people like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant have played anything between nine to 12 Test matches away from home the last two years. In India, not as many.
"When they do play Tests at home, there are hardly any first-class matches that they've played. So they come very poorly trained, without any recent experience on those kinds of pitches," Manjrekar pointed out.
"They're all class players with good records behind them, but like NRIs, like strangers at home," Manjrekar stated.
Manjrekar refused to put the entire blame on the batters, suggesting the economic benefit for other countries in having India tour them.
"Countries like England and Australia are desperate to have India coming and playing in their own country because of the revenue they generate from the Indian team. That is a fact," Manjrekar said.
India have now suffered defeat in five of their last seven Tests on home soil, being whitewashed 0-3 by New Zealand in 2024 and recently 0-2 by South Africa.
Manjrekar, however, did not shy away from criticising the Indian batters for their approach while playing Test cricket in India.
"Power does not work on turning tracks. On fast, bouncy pitches, 'stand and deliver' can get you some success. No chance against spin. Subtle skills are the only thing a batter must have to survive and excel on a turning pitch against good spinners," he said.
India are not scheduled to play any more Test cricket for eight months, with their next red-ball assignment set to come against Sri Lanka in a two-match away series in August 2026.
Rishabh Pant
Ravindra Jadeja
KL Rahul
India Cricket Team