Rohit Sharma, India’s captain, was slammed by Sanjay Manjrekar for the way he got dismissed by Nathan Lyon in the second innings of the ongoing WTC final against Australia at the Oval and even compared him with Virat Kohli in his prime.
Team India endured quick setbacks in a mammoth 444-run chase against Australia in the World Test Championship final, losing the wickets of Rohit Sharma (43) and Cheteshwar Pujara (27) rather cheaply in the final session of Day 4.
Following Shubman Gill’s contentious dismissal earlier in the innings, Rohit and Pujara had been leading the Indian innings with positive intent. Rohit appeared set for a massive score until he attempted a sweep shot against Nathan Lyon and missed the ball, which eventually struck his pads.
Rohit unsuccessfully reviewed the leg before call; shortly after, Pujara was also dismissed while attempting an unorthodox ramp shot.
Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar spoke extensively about Rohit Sharma’s dismissal, claiming that the India opener grew “greedy” as he faced Lyon and hadn’t put a foot wrong during his innings prior to the dismissal.
“Rohit Sharma didn’t put a foot wrong. T20 and Test match have absolutely no connection. He struggled in IPL, but come Test cricket, he didn’t put a foot wrong unless that happened. It happened when a spinner came on after the three quality spinners went out. You suddenly felt there’s a chance to get some runs and a T20 shot came out of the psyche of Rohit Sharma,” Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo.
“The ball came straight, it was nothing special. Maybe, there was a lapse of concentration, a bit too eager for runs. Once he went down on his knees, much to his chagrin, it was shorter than he would’ve liked. He became greedy to pick up a few runs,” he added.
Virat Kohli In His Prime Was Never Going To Give You A Chance: Sanjay Manjrekar
Manjrekar further drew a comparison, stating that a prime Virat Kohli would never allow the bowlers a chance once he was set at the crease, and that differs him from Rohit.
“With some batters, you can say there’s a genuine problem of lapse of concentration. This is a guy who got two hundreds in his first two innings of his Test career. He knows how to get the big scores. Even against England in the four Tests, he got 100 and a a 80, and looked a million-dollar right through the series.
This wasn’t him losing the concentration. There’s some difference in Rohit Sharma playing in that fashion, against somebody like Virat Kohli in his prime. He was never going to give you a chance, once he’s in, he’s in. 4 hundreds against Australia in 2014… that’s what Kohli did,” Manjrekar stated.
Kohli is unbeaten on 44 and Rahane is not out on 20 with India at 164/3 and they require 280 more runs to win the WTC final against a rampaging Australian attack.