Sanjay Manjrekar roasted for a 2012 tweet he made questioning Virat Kohli’s Test ability

As Indian captain Virat Kohli found his touch in the ongoing Test series against Australia Down Under by slamming an unbeaten 82 on Day 2 of the second match in Perth to lead an Indian fightback, former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar found him at the receiving end of Indian fans. Reason? A tweet which he had posted in January 2012 dismissing Kohli as a material suitable in the Test arena.

Manjrekar’s old tweet was back into the discussion after Kohli’s magnificent innings which has kept the visitors in the hunt of a favourable result in the second Test. Ranked the No.1 batsman in Tests, the 30-year-old Kohli is playing in his 75th Test and has scored almost 6500 runs at an average of above 54 with 24 tons.

But why did Manjrekar, who himself was a noted batsman in his playing days for a sound technique, feel that Kohli did not belong to the four-day format? It was perhaps Kohli was a slow starter in the longer format. The batsman made his first appearance in Tests in 2011, almost three years since he made his international debut, and got his first fifty only in the sixth innings and then backed it up with another in the seventh.

Kohli was then off to Australia in his very third Test series and had a string of low scores to start with. After he scored 23 and 9 in the game in Sydney, Manjrekar made his harsh tweet on Kohli as one who did not belong to the Test league and said he should be given one more Test to confirm that he was unsuitable.

Kohli showed his batting skills after Manjrekar’s tweet

We do not know whether Kohli had read that tweet. He came up with 44 and 75 in the next Test at the WACA Ground in Perth and then came his 116 in Adelaide in the Test that followed. It was his maiden Test century and came when the rest of the Indian batting line-up featuring big names like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag lied in the ruins.

It is said that that hundred in Adelaide gave Kohli a gargantuan confidence which saw him slamming 23 centuries in the next 66 Test matches (he also has 38 ODI hundreds) and made him a different batsman altogether.

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

Next month, Manjrekar’s tweet will turn seven-years-old but it hasn’t been erased from the fans’ memory and as the Indian captain cruised towards yet another hundred on the Australian soil, the former cricketer got roasted on social media.

Here are some of the reactions that he got:

Never saw his talent then??? Boy is he making you eat your words….. poor pundit full stop! Piers Morgan of the Indian cricket world.

— Mundeep Dhaliwal (@MundeepD) December 15, 2018

Jokes Apart I still remember everyone called for Virat Kohli's head during the time of this tweet. And I mean everyone! Experts, Media, Paanwalas, Rickshawalas, etc. But 1 man backed him! MSDhoni. Rest is History!! His Longrope saved many careers & Indian Team!!

— Chandler Bing (@SarcasmChamp) September 5, 2018

Look, Virat is now no.1 in Test & where is ur bombaykar Rohit?

— IMRAN SEKH (@imransekh_) September 7, 2018

Lol, why the hell you played cricket? 😂😂

— Rahul Chatterjee🇮🇳 (@yourmanRahul) September 5, 2018

Sanjay sb tweet delete kr dain abi b time hai 😂

— Abdul Muhaymin (@ipakistani93) September 10, 2018

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