3 min readFeb 23, 2026 04:56 PM IST
Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar said that India’s 76-run loss to South Africa in the Super 8 clash in Ahmedabad on Sunday has helped them identify areas to work on before the next game against Zimbabwe.
The 60-year-old said that the co-hosts needed to send good batters of spin higher up the order and focus on getting better at playing the slower ball in the nets.
“Thanks to SA we now know what Ind needs to do next. 1) Get batters with soft skills against spin to bat up the order. 2) Guy doing ‘throw downs’ to throw a a million slower balls at Ind batters,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.
Manjrekar also said that the loss to South Africa should make India contemplate bringing in Kuldeep Yadav into the playing XI to add an additional wicket-taking option in the side.
“3) Kuldeep must play to have another wicket taking option,” he said.
Thanks to SA we now know what Ind needs to do next.
1) Get batters with soft skills against spin to bat up the order.
2) Guy doing ‘throw downs’ to throw a a million slower balls at Ind batters.☺️
3) Kuldeep must play to have another wicket taking option.— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) February 22, 2026
The thought of including the left-arm wristspinner in the match against Zimbabwe was also echoed by former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who said that Axar Patel must return to the playing XI and the management may consider playing Kuldeep in the playing XI.
“At the end of this defeat, I cannot think what they will do. They can think of many things. You have to bring Axar back. Playing in Chennai, they may think of another spinner and Kuldeep. They might think of Sanju Samson, as there are talks about Tilak and Abhishek. But if we can keep things stable, these thoughts will not come. In such a campaign, I am not saying do not make changes for people who are not in form, but if you keep making changes, there will be doubt within the dressing room,” he said on his YouTube stream.
India next face Zimbabwe in Chennai on Thursday.
