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Virat Kohli's brother rips apart Sanjay Manjrekar over harsh Test retirement comments

Anurag Dasgupta

Kohli's brother rips apart Manjrekar [Source: @academy_dinda/x.com] Kohli's brother rips apart Manjrekar [Source: @academy_dinda/x.com]

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar never shies away from making controversial statements, and every now and then, he says something that doesn’t sit well with the majority of the audience. Recently, the ex-India player made a statement on Virat Kohli, and the harsh words came out of nowhere as the cricketer was eventually criticised.

After Joe Root scored a century against Australia at the SCG Test match in the Ashes, Manjrekar posted a video where he compared Kohli and Root’s Test trajectory and slammed the former Indian captain for running away from the format he loved the most.

Manjrekar makes harsh statement on Kohli's Test retirement

Manjrekar reckoned that Kohli had the fitness to play Test cricket for a longer duration, but instead of working hard on his technical errors, the batter ran away and chose the easiest format to score runs (ODIs).

“Well, as Joe Root attains new heights in Test cricket, my mind goes to Virat Kohli. He’s walked away from Tests, and it’s unfortunate that in the five years that he struggled before retiring, he didn’t quite put his heart and soul into finding out the problems as to why he was averaging 31 for five years in Tests. That is for another time as to what he could have done. But I just feel sad that people like Joe Root and Steve Smith, Kane Williamson are really making a name for themselves in Test Cricket,” Manjrekar posted on a video posted on Instagram.

Kohli's brother comes to India great's defence against Manjrekar

As the 60-year-old criticised Virat for choosing the easy path, Vikas Kohli, his brother, came to his rescue and slammed the former cricketer for using Kohli’s name to stay in the limelight.

"SEEMS LIKE LOGON KI DAAL ROTI NAHI CHALTI…. BINA VIRAT KOHLI KA NAAM LIYE HUE," Vikas Kohli stated on Thread.

This is not the first time Vikas has defended Kohli against trolls. He also called out singer, Rahul Vaidya for mocking Kohli, as Vikas called him “a loser.”

Are Manjrekar's statements true about Kohli?

From 2013 to 2019, Kohli was at the peak of his powers as the former Indian captain amassed 6311 runs in 70 Tests, at an average of 58.44. However, the downfall began in 2020, and up until his retirement, Kohli’s numbers dropped as he racked up only 2028 runs, at an average of just 30.73.

For the latter part of his red-ball career, Kohli failed to deliver the goods and had his fair share of weakness outside the off stump, and the bowlers utilised it to perfection. 

His last Test series against Australia is a prime example of how Kohli struggled against the outside off-stump deliveries, and ironically, he was dismissed in the same way on the tour across nine innings. Hence, Manjrekar is not technically wrong as he criticises Kohli’s red-ball downfall.