Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar minced no words in taking a massive dig at retired Virat Kohli following the Shubman Gill-led side’s domination in the first innings of opening day of the first innings against England on Friday in Leeds.
Manjrekar‘s remarks came after Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul took their time in the middle to negate the England pace attack that featured the likes of Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jos Tongue and Ben Stokes.
With the ball doing a bit, both Jaiswal and Rahul whatever offered wide of the off-stump. The duo added 91 runs before Rahul slashed a Carse delivery only to be caught at the first slip by Joe Root just before lunch.
The Kohli reference came from India’s tour of Australia earlier this year when the former India captain poked deliveries on the fourth and fifth stump lines only to see him get out eight time in nine innings in a similar fashion. Notably, the weakness really troubled Kohli for most part of his Test career. He retired from the longest format last month.
On Friday, Rahul and Jaiswal showed no signs of hurry as the duo pounced on the loose deliveries for boundaries. Manjrekar, who is commentating in the series, poked at Kohli.
“Deliveries outside the off stump, full, have been left alone. Jaiswal has done that. Anything that has been pitched right up into the stumps, he has driven. Anything that has been wide, he has looked to score on. KL Rahul has not touched one delivery or attempted to play one single delivery that’s been full, just outside off. Anything that has been wide, he has gone with a covered drive,” said Manjrekar on air.
“So a lot of what you’re seeing is being created by these two batters, and my hat’s off to them. We know of a former batter who would have gone after that delivery and got himself into trouble. But not these two,” added the former cricketer. Although Manjrekar didn’t mention Kohli‘s name, it was certain that he pointed out at former India captain.
How does Indian batting look like sans Kohli?
After the Test retirements of Kohli and Rohit Sharma, India handed Sai Sudharsan a debut while also recalling Karun Nair after a huge gap of eight years. While Sudharsan was out for a duck on debut at no.3, new captain Shubman Gill batted at no.4 (Kohli’s batting position), followed by vice-captain Rishabh Pant. Nair, all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur follow.
