Sanjay Manjrekar wants this star player out of the Indian team

India haven't been at their best during the ongoing five-match T20I series against South Africa. They lost the first two T20Is by a big margin and thus, need a win in the third match to remain alive in this five-match series at home.

Star bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, and Mohammed Shami are rested for this tour but India have an experienced pace duo in the form of Bhuvneshwar and Harshal Patel. Avesh Khan, Umran Malik, and Arshdeep Singh are young pacers who could bowl alongside Kumar and Patel if given a chance in the upcoming games.

In the spin department, India lost Kuldeep Yadav as he suffered an injury just before the first match. Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravi Bishnoi are the two specialist spinners. On the other hand, the bowling all-rounder Axar Patel has been a part of the first two T20Is well.

Sanjay Manjrekar wants Umran Malik in India's playing XI

Chahal and Axar both played the first two matches but struggled with just two wickets combined. Chahal bowled only two overs (2.1 Overs) in the first match and went on to give 49 runs in the second match with just a wicket to his name.

Axar also gave 40 runs in the first match and bowled only one over in the second. Thus, Sanjay Manjrekar felt that he shouldn't be in the side for the next game. While interacting with Sports 18, he pointed out that the pitches are not in favour of spinners and thus suggested playing an extra pacer ahead of Axar. He believes that the inclusion of Malik will give them a wicket-taking option in the middle overs.

“So here is my recommendation. Have somebody like an Umran Malik come in because pitches aren’t rank turners. If you have rank turners, maybe Axar Patel is a more effective bowler because India needs wickets. So have Umran Malik purely because he has the ability to get wickets in the middle,” said Sanjay Manjrekar.