Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar expressed his confidence in Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli playing test cricket for a longer period of time and considers him to be India’s best batter right now, second only to Rishabh Pant. The 35-year-old batter was a star performer for India in the recently concluded two-match test series against South Africa.
The difficult South Africa tour saw Virat Kohli once again demonstrate that he is the best Indian batter in red-ball cricket and is likely to be part of the Indian setup for the foreseeable future, at least for a couple of years. The Ace Indian batter hit one half-century on South Africa’s difficult bouncy surfaces but looked at ease with the visiting batters on display.
Speaking on Espncricinfo, Sanjay Manjrekar feels that Virat Kohli will continue to play test cricket for a long time and praised him for his brilliant batting against South Africa in the two-match test series.
“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 challenges that batters face and 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.
In the Cape Town Test, Virat Kohli appeared to be the best batter from both teams, as he worked hard to make a mark for India with the bat against South Africa. The 35-year-old batted in the second session and looked at ease on a surface with varied bounce, falling just short of a well-deserved half-century.
Rohit Sharma And Virat Kohli Are Still Batters From The Old School – Sanjay Manjrekar
On the query about Rohit Sharma’s future, Sanjay Manjrekar stated that it is up to the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma himself to determine the length of his remaining career and believes that there is no competition for his replacement in the Indian team.
“Rohit Sharma will be the man to let us know by his action on how much he wants to play Test cricket. These (Rohit and Kohli) 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,” Sanjay Manjrekar added.
Rohit Sharma had some tough times in South Africa, where he struggled to get going against quality South African bowlers. However, led India to a second Test series draw on home soil since 2010-11. This was the shortest completed Test match in terms of deliveries bowled, with only 642 balls bowled in the game.
