Sanjay Manjrekar isn’t known to mince his words. The cricketer-turned-commentator says it as he sees it. When Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli skipped the Duleep Trophy while most of their teammates played, Manjrekar criticised the BCCI for their special treatment of the modern greats. A couple of days ago, he also claimed that Rohit-Kohli weren’t in their primes anymore.
Kohli braver than Ganguly & Tendulkar?
This time around, Manjrekar has praised and criticised Kohli at the same time. After the former skipper got out for a 9-ball duck, Manjrekar lauded Kohli for doing something that neither Sourav Ganguly nor Sachin Tendulkar did in their careers. What he meant was that Kohli showed courage to move up the order in Shubman Gill’s absence in the India vs New Zealand 1st Test. According to him, Ganguly and Tendulkar weren’t brave enough to do it.
“Hats off to Virat Kohli! Coming out to bat at no 3 bcoz the team needed it. Ganguly, Tendulkar were very keen to open in white ball cricket, but never wanted to go up the order in Tests. That’s a true champion right there for you! Virat,” Manjrekar posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Manjrekar critiques Kohli’s technique
Although most agreed that Kohli got a vicious ball that bounced and jagged back in, Manjrekar felt that Kohli’s technique was the issue. “Have said this before will say it again. Virat has compounded his problems by wanting to be on the front foot to every ball. No matter the length. Today’s dismissal ball could have been comfortably tackled off the back foot,” he posted minutes later, highlighting how his decision to play on the front foot led to his downfall in Bengaluru.
