The critics and doubters of Virat Kohli have gone from doubting his place in the Indian team, especially his technique in Test cricket to now being his fan and thanking god that he plays for Team India.
The perfect example of this has been former India batsman and now commentator Sanjay Manjrekar.
After Kohli’s gritty knocks in the Test series in South Africa on really spicy, seam-friendly conditions, Sanjay Manjrekar hailed Virat Kohli, saying that the 35-year-old is by far the best Test batsman in India.
Manjrekar said: “Thank God that India have Virat Kohli. He showed on this SA tour, the kind of 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.”
However, it has taken a dozen years for Kohli to make his name, score runs across all conditions against all types of opponents around the world for him to change Manjrekar’s opinion.
Sanjay Manjrekar didn’t think Virat Kohli was cut out for Test cricket in 2011/12 Australia tour
A tweet by Sanjay Manjrekar from 2012 is now going viral in which the commentator had criticized Team India’s selection of Kohli on the Test team in Australia.
Manjrekar, in his tweet in January 2012, said that he would replace VVS Laxman with Rohit Sharma, and give Kohli just one more Test, after his twin failures at the start of the series, to ensure that Kohli doesn’t belong at the Test level.
Manjrekar tweeted in 2012: “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.”
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.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) January 6, 2012
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.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) January 6, 2012
Well, what do we know now? Virat Kohli was the only Indian to score a century in the Test series in Australia in 2011/12, making Manjrekar eat his own words.
Kohli now has 8848 runs in 113 Tests at an average of 49.15, having notched up 29 Test tons.
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