First Sports Exclusive: Sanjay Manjrekar on IPL 2024, title contenders, Rishabh Pant, and more

With Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 nearing the halfway stage, Rajasthan Royals have been the pick of the lot with six wins out of seven. Then Sunrisers Hyderabad have shattered batting records with 277 runs and then 283 runs to make themselves count. Kolkata Knight Riders, in second place, have also looked good with four wins out of six.

Sanjay Manjrekar, former India cricketer, chatted with Rupha Ramani in an exclusive conversation on First Sports. Here are the excerpts:

What are your takeaways from IPL 2024?

Every IPL has become better and better with regards to popularity and viewership. What has been the biggest takeaway is the runs scored - almost 15 runs per over per innings. Those kind of things get your attention. We spoke to R Ashwin a couple of days ago, he noticed every year you see IPL and T20 cricket evolving rapidly.

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On the Impact Player rule

When T20 came into being, the overs shrunk to 20 overs per innings but the batters remained the same. So, automatically that was a big advantage. Bowlers still had the restriction on how many overs you could bowl. There is a little more freedom and license for the batters to go for the bowling and plan attack from ball number one. So, it has always been skewed in favour of the batters, more so in the T20 cricket in comparison to other formats. What we found out is that because the format is so heavily loaded in favour of a batter, the Impact Batter is making a greater impact that an Impact Bowler.

I don’t think the fans are complaining! A fan who was sitting next to me on a flight was excited by the runs SRH scored. If fans get put off, then we have to have a look at it. We (experts) don’t matter. Former players who played Test cricket don’t matter. It is really the fans who make the event. Different people have different expectations. If fans like it, I don’t think anything will change too much.

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Which team has impressed you the most?

Rajasthan Royals. Just the first three games, (Jos) Buttler didn’t fire. Yashasvi Jaiswal didn’t fire. And, they still won matches. Sandeep Sharma helped the team win the close matches in the first few games that they played. He didn’t play, someone else fired and Rajasthan kept winning. They’re a team that has not relied on one or two players. With Sandeep gone, there’s probably some issue. But it is a team with least weaknesses and there is some quality in their batting, the seam bowling as well as spin. Very few other teams can boast of this kind of combination.

Which player has impressed you the most?

I hope selectors don’t forget about Rinku Singh. He’s a walk-in into the Indian team. The range that he has, I like him. Another batter who has played for India but he’s at a stage where things have started to work is Sanju Samson with his consistency, maturity. India needs such a player when he’s on song. The peak of Riyan Parag, I think very few young batters can match. But we will have to see how he does throughout the entire tournament. But India might just struggle with seam bowlers.

Captains that have made a mark

Shubman Gill looks very comfortable. I like how he’s come in and looks like he is naturally suited to lead the team. Also, it is good to see it hasn’t affected his batting too much. Again, I have to go back to Sanju Samson. Who would have thought a few years back that he would be the kind of leader that he is today, very calm, relaxed. I have not seen enough of Ruturaj Gaikwad but he’s got MS Dhoni next to him all the time. So, when Gaikwad is entirely on his own on the field, then we can judge him. But, Shubman Gill and Sanju Samson have been quite impressive, and Pat Cummins, how he is leading Sunrisers Hyderabad, just the amount of commitment that you see from him as a captain, has been impressive.

Who makes the playoffs?

At this stage, it is easy to back Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders. I see Mumbai Indians eventually finding a way. CSK and Sunrisers Hyderabad are the other teams. But I want to stress on this aspect that we always talk about the final-four but it is about winning the playoffs and winning on the big night. That is where you have to look at the team which has players who love the big stage. That is where I feel Sunrisers Hyderabad with Pat Cummins and Travis Head who have experience to to excel on the big stage. That’s where Mumbai Indians also have an advantage, and that’s where Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders might be tested.