"Stop Putting Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma In Same Bracket": Sanjay Manjrekar Separates 'Ro-Ko'

NDTV

4 hours ago

As Team India begins a new journey in Test cricket, unarguably, the biggest challenge remains filling the voids left by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. While one is a batter who truly redefined the way the format is perceived across the globe, the other is a captain whom simply no one could hate. Though the pool of talent India has makes it quite conceivable for the selectors to replace the big-name players with promising talent, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar wasn't pleased when the new Test captain said that there would be pressure on him without Virat and Rohit.
Manjrekar, a cricketer-turned-pundit, isn't known to mince his words while sharing his analysis on the raging topics in the game. He doesn't feel Virat and Rohit should be put in the same category, at least as far as Test cricket is concerned.
"Right recently, Shubman Gill made a statement, India's new Test captain about how he is now going to feel the pressure of the absence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the England season, the Test series there. And it stirred up the bee in my bonnet, which has been there for a while. It's not so much about the statement, but the fact that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli tend to get clubbed together," he said in a video on his Instagram account.
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"We even have a term for them, RoKo. I can understand it in white-ball cricket; there's some comparison, and they're comparable players. Although there's an argument there as well, but that's for a later time. When it comes to red-ball cricket, there's absolutely no comparison between the two. And I will never ever put them in the same bracket. Just to give you some numbers, so you don't have to take my word for it," Manjrekar said in an unflinching statement.
The former Indian cricketer also put some numbers forward, especially from the two batters' SENA performances in Tests.
"When it comes to SENA countries, the true test of a batter, Virat Kohli has got 12 hundreds. 30 Test 100s as well. Rohit Sharma in SENA countries, just the one against England at the Oval 2021. He's played over 100 innings, just one hundred in SENA countries. And the average now is 40."
"And I dare say, had he continued playing or had he gone to England, that average would have dropped in the 30s. I can't be absolutely sure, but that would be my educated guess. So, when it comes to Test cricket, please, red-ball cricket, Virat Kohli is in a different league when you compare him with Rohit Sharma. This comparison in red-ball cricket between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and putting them in the same bracket, I say, Roko, stop that."