"It is unfair to blame everything on Shardul Thakur"- Sanjay Manjrekar feels Indian bowling collectively failed in 1st Test vs South Africa

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes one of the main reasons behind India's loss in Centurion was the inconsistency in their bowling.

Team India dropped Shardul Thakur for the second Test in Cape Town and replaced him with Mukesh Kumar, who picked up four wickets.

When the question was posed if Kumar should have been a part of the playing XI from the first Test itself, Manjrekar defended the indirect criticism of Thakur.

He said that the entire Indian bowling unit failed collectively in the first Test and the think tank also possibly wanted a better batter at No. 8, which is where Thakur specializes.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo after the end of the Test series, here's what Sanjay Manjrekar had to say about Shardul Thakur (3:54):

"I understand why they wanted batting depth with Shardul, especially given that they have new players batting at 1,3 & 5 and also Shardul's record in South Africa. I think it is unfair to blame everything on Shardul Thakur. I feel India generally didn't bowl well in that Test match and that didn't allow them a series win."

He added (4:25):

"I fear Shardul Thakur will have to wait a while to play his next Test match. They will have to look at his bowling. It is not that he scored 40-50 with the bat either. He might not play a Test match for a while now as India will find other ways of strengthening their batting."

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Sanjay Manjrekar backs Prasidh Krishna to improve with more first-class games

Speedster Prasidh Krishna had a series to forget as he picked up only two wickets across two Tests, while also giving away runs at a quick rate. However, Sanjay Manjrekar feels that the young pacer will improve with more first-class experience under his belt.

On this, he stated (5:14):

"Low on confidence naturally at the start of his Test career. And tactically I feel India went wrong in the first Test trying to swing the ball, something Prasidh isn't comfortable with. So there was pressure immediately on him in his first innings with India having just 260 (245) on the board. Plus you have to look at just 12 first class games, unlike Mukesh Kumar who made more of a bowling impact than Prasidh Krishna."

The 2023-24 Ranji Trophy season might be crucial for Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna to get back among the wickets and remain in India's Test plans for the Australia tour at the end of this calendar year.