Virat Kohli’s brother, Vikas Kohli, has launched another sharp response to former India cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar following the latter’s recent comments on Kohli and his decision to continue playing One-Day Internationals after stepping away from Test cricket.
Manjrekar had earlier expressed disappointment over Kohli’s choice, describing ODIs as the “easiest format” for a top-order batter. His remarks came in the context of Kohli retiring from Test cricket while remaining active in the 50-over
format.
Following Kohli’s latest century against New Zealand on Sunday, Vikas Kohli took to the social media to respond to Manjrekar’s assessment.
“I wonder if Mr Expert of Cricket has some suggestions for the easiest form of cricket. You need to be there to do that. Anyways, as I said, easier said than done,” Vikas Kohli posted on his threads profile, in a message widely interpreted as a reference to Manjrekar’s earlier statements.
This was not the first time Vikas Kohli has criticised Manjrekar’s comments. A few days earlier, he had made another post addressing the same issue,
“Such an easy format isn't it ... someone gave his gyaan a few days back... easier said than done..," he wrote earlier.
On the field, the Delhi cricketer continued his strong form in limited-overs cricket despite India falling short in the run chase. Batting against New Zealand, Kohli scored 124 runs off 108 balls, registering his fourth century in nine List A matches. However, India failed to chase 337 after top-order batters, including Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer failed to make a mark.
“Well, as Joe Root attains new heights in Test cricket, my mind goes to Virat Kohli. He's walked away from Tests, and it's unfortunate that in the five years that he struggled before retiring, he didn't quite put his heart and soul into finding out the problems as to why he was averaging 31 for five years in Tests. That is for another time as to what he could have done,” Manjrekar had said.
“It was okay, Virat Kohli just walked away from cricket, retired from all cricket. But that he's chosen to play one-day cricket actually disappoints me more, because this is a format which, for a top-order batter, I've said before as well, is the easiest format."
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