Former Indian cricketer and cricket analyst Sanjay Manjrekar is being trolled by the fans of the Indian cricket team for leaving Shikhar Dhawan out of his predicted Playing XI for the first ODI between India and South Africa at the Boland Park, Paarl.

A day before the first of three One Day Internationals was supposed to take place, Manjrekar had predicted the team of 11 Indian cricketers who would be stepping into the field. For the opening position in the batting order, Manjrekar had decided to favour age over experience and chose the young Venkatesh Iyer alongside the stand-in captain KL Rahul over Dhawan.

Do you agree with Sanjay Manjrekar's playing XI for the first ODI? #SAvIND

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 19, 2022

Albeit he added that the reason for picking Iyer over Dhawan was to try and jam in a sixth bowling option for the skipper to go to if he felt that the match was slipping out of his hand at any point in time.

“My main obsession was fitting that 6th bowling option and that’s where Venkatesh Iyer comes into my plans. And if Venkatesh Iyer is going to be in the team, might as well open with him because it’s something special about him when he opens the innings. So just to put pressure on the opposition have Venkatesh Iyer. Rest Shikhar Dhawan for maybe this match,” Manjrekar had written for ESPNcricinfo.

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As it turns out, Dhawan was not only included in the actual Playing XI for the Men in Blue, he also went on to smash 10 fours, and scored the most runs for his side and being the strongest link for the squad before getting dismissed at 79 in the 26th over.

Looking at Gabbar exceed all expectations and prove Manjrekar wrong in his assessment of the 36-year old, fans of the team and the player hopped on Twitter to have some fun with the analyst:

Where is sanjay manjrekar who was asking dhawan to drop he is real

— nikhil (@nikhil61183325) January 19, 2022

Brilliant 50 by dhawan , can't believe chomu Manjrekar was dropping him from 1st ODI
Dhawan should be the Indian opener till 2023 WC pic.twitter.com/ljFrGmtSAd

— A N K I T (@Ankitaker) January 19, 2022

so no dhawan, no ashwin and jayant yadav who has no experience of playing outside india?
sanjay manjrekar has outdone himself this time... and this guy gets paid for his opinions

— Rohit Arora (@rohitaroramufc) January 19, 2022

Sanjay Manjrekar wants Jayant Yadav to play this ODI, wants Dhawan to sit and also Ruturaj.
Cricket expert, ok#SAvIND

— Naman Shah (@NamanShah2607) January 19, 2022

Dhawan???
Manjrekar is a stupid jerk

— Rahul Deva (@RoyalMa55451004) January 19, 2022

Manjrekar had also decided to drop veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin from the Playing XI and wanted Jayant Yadav to be his second spinner after Yuzvendra Chahal. Nonetheless, Ashwin did make his first ODI appearance since 2017, dismissed the Protea opener Quinton de Kock and proved to be one of the more economical bowlers for Rahul.

However, the efforts put in by Dhawan and Ashwin weren’t enough to chase down South Africa’s 296-run total, although the southpaw batter did manage to hold the fort and score big runs at the beginning of Indian batting alongside Virat Kohli for the second wicket and even shared a 92-run partnership.

After losing the match by 31 runs, India are losing the series 0-1. However, they have two more matches to get redemption for the insult they faced while losing the Test series. The second ODI is also scheduled to take place at the same venue on January 21.

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