Ind vs Eng 3rd Test: Depsite India's loss, THIS batsman's form turns out to be 'biggest satisfaction' for Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Former Team India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar said that he is satisfied with the current form of opening batsman KL Rahul in the ongoing Test series against England.

Speaking on Rahul's brilliance, Manjrekar said on JioHotstar, "The biggest satisfaction I've had - as an analyst and a former cricketer - has come from watching KL Rahul. He has always had the game. Yes, there were grey areas in his technique, but he worked on those and resolved them. What was missing was consistency. On one of our shows, we even jokingly gave him the title of ‘Mr. Consistent KL Rahul' - but it's taken him a long time to truly earn that tag".

So far, Rahul has scored 375 runs in three Test matches against England. He also has two centuries and a half-century to his name.

The former cricketer further stated that the 33-year-old's batting has been close to perfection.

"He has now played over 50 Test matches for India, and what I'm seeing now is close to perfection - there are no visible weaknesses. For the first time in an overseas series, he has scored more than 200 runs. That, for me, is a massive takeaway for India," Manjrekar added.

During the third Test match, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah were toiling in the middle, but Manjrekar feels that the real hero of the partnership was Bumrah, and that was truly special for him.

"Ravindra Jadeja was batting well and defending resolutely, but it never looked like he was taking the kind of risks needed to help India win. He was playing a waiting game and hoping against hope. The real star in that partnership, though, was Jasprit Bumrah. He stayed out there for one hour and 40 minutes against high-quality fast bowling, facing bouncers, and it was remarkable to see how his net sessions with the bat finally paid off. The mental toughness we see in his bowling came through in his batting too, and that was truly special," said the 60-year-old.

Speaking about Jadeja's knock of 61 runs, he said that after Jadeja's half-century, the scenes from the Lord's balcony were not too positive, and the chase looked beyond reach.

"It's heartening to see how much Jadeja trusts his defence these days. He plays long innings now, patient and with time on his side. The 70 runs he scored in the first innings were not a quick-fire 70 - he batted for four hours. And on this pitch, scoring 50 felt like batting for 50 hours. But if you look at that moment when Jadeja brought up his half-century, the visuals from the Lord's balcony did not look too positive. The energy from the dressing room said it all, it felt like the team knew that winning would be very difficult. Jadeja was trying, no doubt, but given the pitch, the conditions, and India's scoring rate, the chase looked beyond reach," concluded Manjrekar, who has featured in 37 Test matches for Team India.

(With IANS Inputs)