Virat Kohli had announced his retirement from Tests in May, just a few days after former captain Rohit Sharma had also done so.
Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar took a dig at veteran Virat Kohli as he compared the stalwart batter with India’s latest opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul during the ongoing Test between England and India at Headingley.
The incident happened during the 1st Test against England in Leeds when Manjrekar, who was on air as commentator, chose to compare Rahul’s resistance to poking at deliveries outside off-stump to that of Kohli’s recent woes.
“KL Rahul has not touched one delivery or attempted to play one single delivery that has been full, outside off. Anything that has been wide has gone with the cover drive.
“So, a lot what you see is being created by these two batters. We know of a former batter who would have gone after that delivery and got himself into trouble, but not these two,” Sanjay Manjrekar said during commentary on Day one of the first Test between England and India in Leeds on Friday.
Virat Kohli had announced his retirement from Tests in May, just a few days after former captain Rohit Sharma had also called it quits from the longest format.
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Earlier this year, Virat Kohli endured a forgettable Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia in Australia, aggregating just 190 runs from nine innings. He had kickstarted the series with an unbeaten century in the Perth Test that India won, but struggled with facing outside off-stump deliveries which led to him being dismissed for low scores in the Tests that followed.
Kohli’s issues on this zone against pace has been documented plenty of times in the recent past. Manjrekar himself has criticized the India batter multiple times over his errors outside off stump against pace.
“It’s time that he not only got runs but got out in a different fashion to show that he’s overcome that problem. I’ve never seen somebody with the kind of performance and impact that Virat Kohli had on Test cricket have this kind of weakness,” Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo during the Australian tour, which turned out to be Kohli’s final Test series.
“I don’t think any other top-class batter has had this. There may have been a patch where somebody has got out repeatedly in a fashion, but this has gone on for far too long.”
India headed to the lunch break on Day one of the first Test against England with a score of 92/2 in Leeds on Friday. Yashasvi Jaiswal (42*) and KL Rahul (42) were off to a confident start as they forged 91 runs for the first wicket before the latter was dismissed by Brydon Carse. Test debutant B Sai Sudharsan endured a forgettable outing after England skipper Ben Stokes dismissed him for a four-ball duck.
India, under new captain Shubman Gill, are aiming to clinch their first Test series win on English soil since 2007, when Rahul Dravid and Co had beaten Michael Vaughan’s England 1-0 in a three-match Test series.
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