Virat Kohli (left) and Sanjay Manjrekar.
Credit: PTI/ANI Photos
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, who has a track-record of making controversial comments, has ruffled a few feathers yet again by questioning the timing of Virat Kohli's retirement, saying the star cricketer instead of fixing his flaws preferred to walk away from the longer version and play the simplest of the formats.
Kohli has called it quits from Test matches in May 2025, a year after announcing his retirement from T20Is and currently plays only in the One-day Internationals (ODIs).
Citing a parallel with Joe Root, who still plays the longer format format and is still scoring runs aplenty, Manjrekar took a swipe at Kohli.
“It was okay, Virat Kohli just walked away from cricket, retired from all cricket. But that he's chosen to play one-day cricket actually disappoints me more, because this is a format which, for a top-order batter, I've said before as well, is the easiest format,” Manjrekar said in a video posted on his Instagram handle.
Kohli has been in stellar form of late and racked up two hundreds and an unbeaten 65 in the three-match home ODI series against South Africa last month and also played the Vijay Hazare Trophy domestic tournament where he continued his good run.
But despite that, Manjrekar feels Kohli should have have played the longer format a little more and drew parallels with Root.
The former England captain showed all the composure of a 163-Test veteran as he notched his 41st century (his second of the five-match series) in the ongoing final Ashes Test at Sydney Cricket Ground.
"Well, as Joe Root attains new heights in Test cricket, my mind goes to Virat Kohli. He’s walked away from Test cricket, 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 Test cricket. But I just feel sad that people like Joe Root, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson are really making a name for themselves in Test cricket,” Manjrekar added in his video post.
Along with Root, Kohli, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith, were once dubbed as the 'Fab Four' in international cricket. Barring Kohli, the other three continue to play Test cricket.
"That could have made me truly happy. Obviously, that's his call, his choice. But yeah, when Joe Root gets hundreds or gets runs, or Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, my mind goes to Virat Kohli with a sense of disappointment and a little bit of sadness, because he cared so much for Test Cricket, didn't he?," Manjrekar concluded his video with a cryptic comment.