How Sanjay Manjrekar changed his opinion on Virat Kohli's batting in test cricket in last 12 years

Manjrekar was not confident of Virat Kohli’s batting back in 2011 when the Delhi batter had made his Test debut.

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has been one of the most vocal critics of Virat Kohli since the day the batter made his debut for India in 2008. Kohli has gone on to become a modern-day legend and his feats have been unparalleled.

Virat Kohli had made his Test debut in 2011 against West Indies and in the initial phase of his career, had a series of low scores. He had a poor outing in the 2011 Australian and England tours and this led to Sanjay Manjrekar writing an obituary of the cricketer’s Test career.

The right-hander’s bottom-handed style and inability to deal with short-pitched deliveries, as well as the awkward situations Kohli would inevitably find himself in to try to overcome them, were the source of dispute.

Sanjay Manjrekar, one of the prominent experts who was dismayed to observe how the young batter tackled the bouncer trick, published a tweet that became popular in recent years for being proven wrong.

On January 6, 2012, Manjrekar posted on then Twitter, calling for Kohli to be dropped from the team after giving him one more chance. He had also called for dropping VVS Laxman ahead of the third Test of the 2011-12 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth.

“I would still drop VVS & get rohit in for next test.Makes long term sense. give virat 1 more test..just to be sure he does not belong here,” Manjrekar had posted.

However, in the following Test, Kohli proved Manjrekar and other pundits incorrect by reaffirming his talent and promise on Australia’s bouncy track. He top-scored for India in either innings with fantastic knocks of 44 and 75, in a match that India lost by an innings & 37 runs.

‘Thank God We Have a Virat Kohli’- How Sanjay Manjrekar has changed his opinion on Virat Kohli since 2012

Since then, Kohli has gone on to rewrite record books with his bat and as India captain. India won their first Test series in Australia in 2018-19 and repeated the victory in 2020-21. India reached the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup and the final of the World Test Championship in 2021 under Kohli.

The Delhi-based batter has proven Sanjay Manjrekar wrong on so many occasions since then, that the former India batter has changed his opinion of him, and now thank god that India has Virat Kohli.

The South Africa tour saw Kohli yet again proving he remains the best Test Indian batter currently and will continue to be part of their setup at least in the two longer formats for some time to come.

He had scores of 38 & 76 and 46 & 12 in the recent South Africa Test series and Sanjay Manjrekar reckons that the team should be thankful that they have someone of Kohli’s class.

“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,” Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.

For more updates, follow Khel Now Cricket on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.