There’s no doubt that Virat Kohli is an important part of the current Indian cricketing set up. The right-handed batter is close to breaching the 9000-run mark in Test cricket while he holds the record for the most centuries in ODIs. Kohli has been dominating international cricket for many years but that was not the case when he began his international career.
During his early years, Kohli’s below-par form saw him getting dropped. In 2011/12 series against Australia, Kohli got the team management’s backing but he struggled in the first two Tests. During the series, commentator Sanjay Manjrekar wanted the BCCI to back Kohli for one more Test but for a different reason. To note, Manjrekar wasn’t confident of Virat’s skills and opined that the cricketer didn’t belong to international cricket.
“I would still drop VVS & get rohit in for next test. Makes long term sense. give virat 1 more test..just to be sure he does not belong here,” Manjrekar had posted in 2012. However, 12 years later, Manjrekar has thanked God that India has a player like Virat Kohli.
Speaking about his recent antics in South Africa, Manjrekar praised Kohli and said that there’s a big difference between Kohli and other Indian batters in the camp. “Thank God that India have Virat Kohli. He showed on this SA tour, the kind of challenges that batters face that there’s a big distance between him and the next best Test batter in India at least until Rishabh Pant is back,” Manjrekar said.
