Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar felt that Virat Kohli should follow peers such as Cheteshwar Pujara by playing county cricket to prepare for the Test series against England in June.
Kohli is currently going through a rut in Test cricket, having scored only three hundreds since 2020. The former India skipper scored 190 runs from nine innings in the recent Border Gavaskar Trophy which Australia won 3-1 after losing the first Test in Perth.
Kohli scored a hundred in the second innings of the Pert Test, but his form nosedived after that. His dismissals while chasing deliveries outside off stump were in the spotlight as the star batter didn’t seem to find solutions.
Soon after the series debacle, the BCCI mandated all players to play domestic cricket in order to be qualified for national team selection as well as central contracts.
Manjrekar suggested that it will be helpful for Kohli to play as much red-ball cricket as possible to find his scoring touch.
“Kohli needs to play a lot of red-ball cricket. The first Test in England is in June, while the County Championship begins in April. He could join a county team, like Pujara did, and gain valuable match practice,” Manjrekar said on Star Sports’ Deep Point podcast.
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Pujara began his county stint when signed for Gloucestershire in 2020 and then played two seasons for Sussex 1,863 runs from 18 innings which included eight hundreds.
The Saurashtra batting great scored 870 runs from 32 innings when he played in England which included one hundred and five half centuries.
Manjrekar felt Kohli can play few county games from which India can look at including him in the team for England Tests.
“India can then evaluate his performances in the initial Test matches. If there are positive signs, he can continue,” Manjrekar further added.
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The County Championship 2025 beginning on April 7, will run parallel to the Indian Premier League and will only break after Round 8 which ends on May 26. Kohli needs to either skip the IPL altogether which is highly unlikely or RCB needs to be out of the playoffs race for him to travel to the UK.
Currently, reports suggested Kohli will be unavailable for his domestic side Delhi’s Ranji Trophy game against Saurashtra from January 23 due to neck sprain for which he has taken an injection.
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