Sanjay Manjrekar terms Virat Kohli's leadership as 'hard to understand'

So once again, Virat Kohli’s captaincy is in the news. In the first Test against England at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai, the Indian side was thrashed by 227 runs. The Indian team was outplayed completely in the match, as England stamped their supremacy over their opponents.

And, Kohli’s team selection has now once again come under the radar. It was expected that Kuldeep Yadav would get a go in the first Test against England, but instead Kohli went in with Shahbaz Nadeem. Nadeem bowled close to 60 (59) overs, gave away 233 runs and could only pick up 4 wickets. What was more worrying was the fact that being a spinner, Nadeem bowled a staggering 9 no-balls in the match.

However, the cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has opined that India definitely did not employ bad tactics. He added that the team selection was a fair one, and said that people have taken Kuldeep Yadav’s name only because Nadeem performed poorly in the previous match. Manjrekar was of the view that the Chepauk pitch was tailor-made for Nadeem.

“I wouldn’t say India had bad tactics or they blundered on tactics. Team selection I think was fair. People are talking about Kuldeep Yadav now because Shahbaz Nadeem hasn’t bowled well. This was a tailor-made pitch for him,” said Manjrekar in a chat with Cricinfo.

Manjrekar calls Kohli’s leadership as ‘hard to understand’

The former Indian batsman also said that Washington Sundar bowled the wrong line in the first Test, and also opined that the moment Sundar started bowling outside off stump, he started reaping the rewards. Manjrekar was of the view that Kohli is a skipper who is hard to understand as far as team selection is concerned. He also concluded by saying that England were the superior team ‘tactically’.

“Tactically, the small parts of the game where Washington Sundar I think bowled the wrong line, to begin with. He is a great guy to bowl outside off stump and when he did that, it troubled the opposition batsmen.

“That’s where Virat Kohli is a little hard to understand, with his overall strategy and team selection. Tactically, England were superior but I won’t say that India blundered tactically,” concluded Manjrekar.

The second Test between India and England will be played from 13th February 2021 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.