Former India player-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has been pretty vocal with his opinions about the Indian team and its players in the buildup for the five-match Test series between England and India.
India was asked to bowl first as Joe Root, England captain won the toss and chose to bat first. India struck an early blow as Rory Burns was trapped LBW by Jasprit Bumrah in the first over itself.
A small partnership brewed between Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley for the second wicket, which was brought to an end by Mohammed Siraj. However, there was too much drama as over resulted in India captain Virat Kohli taking two reviews, convinced by Rishabh Pant and the bowler.
The first review which was taken by Virat Kohli went to waste as the ball hadn’t hit the bat and was going over the stumps.
This led to Sanjay Manjrekar, who was commentating on-air, criticizing Kohli for being excited and influenced by keeper Pant and the bowler and going for the review. He even said that the Indian team misses MS Dhoni when it came to taking DRS reviews.
Not only this, but he also mentioned how Ajinkya Rahane discarded Rishabh Pant’s excitement when it came to DRS reviews, something that Kohli gets influenced with.
However, this all changed when later in the over, Siraj got Crawley to edge a ball to Rishabh Pant and Kohli went for a confident review and it came in the batsmen being sent back.
This led to Sanjay Manjrekar changing his tone immediately and praising Kohli for showing courage to go for another review, despite one being wasted a couple of balls earlier.
He called Kohli’s review ‘absolutely brilliant’ while mentioning the previous instance. He further praised Pant for convincing Kohli to go for another review and Kohli for trusting Pant.
