In a recent interview, Cricketer turned Commentator and pundit, Sanjay Manjrekar bashed the younger generation of Indian batters for not having enough talent and not doing enough to become the next big thing in Test cricket before thanking god that the Indian team still has someone like Virat Kohli.
Manjrekar’s comments have come in the light of India’s 1-1 Freedom Trophy test series draw in South Africa in which the visitors claimed a first-ever victory at Newlands in the 2nd test by 7 wickets. Other than Virat Kohli, no other batsman was able to produce any impact whatsoever with the other exception being KL Rahul who scored a century in the 1st test.
Virat Kohli scored 172 runs across 4 innings from the 2 tests at the Rainbow Nation which also included a half-century in the 2nd innings at Centurion. Though India had lost that match by an innings and 32 runs, Kohli ended up as the most reliant batter in those conditions against a ruthless bowling line-up like South Africa had.
Kohli stands as the 2nd most successful batter in South Africa after Sachin Tendulkar who has over 1000 runs over there. With the test team transition firmly in place, the Indian management is yet to find a batter who can be trusted in SENA conditions.
The likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Shreyas Iyer, all had below-par performances in the test series given the fact that it was their first-ever experience of playing at the Rainbow Nation. But Sanjay Manjrekar highlighted that it will take a lot of time for India to find a suitable replacement for Virat Kohli till the time wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant makes his comeback.
“Virat Kohli will no doubt play (Test cricket) as long as possible and thank god for India, we have a Virat Kohli. He showed on this trip the kind of the 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.” – Sanjay Manjrekar said.
After Virat Kohli’s Appreciation, Sanjay Manjrekar Sees On Suitable Replacement For Rohit Sharma As Well
After heaping praise on Virat Kohli and his untouchability in the Indian team, Sanjay Manjrekar hailed Indian captain Rohit Sharma and his efficiency up the order and according to him, there is no batter at the moment who can come in as Rohit Sharma’s replacement.
Manjrekar praised both Kohli and Rohit for being the last of the traditional old-school test batters before adding that only the latter knows when he is going to hang his boots.
“Rohit Sharma will be the man to let us know by his action on how much he wants to play Test cricket. These are still batters from the old school. All the new guys will have to adapt to Test cricket. If Rohit Sharma wants to extend his Test career, it’s in his hands, there’s no competition.” – Manjrekar concluded.