Sanjay Manjrekar wants Virat Kohli to play a lot of red-ball cricket before the five-Test series against England. He told the struggling batter to follow Cheteshwar Pujara and gain experience playing in England to regain form for the five-day cricket assignment.
Virat hasn’t done anything impressive in Test cricket for a long time, and his failures played a part in India’s defeat against New Zealand and Australia. Kohli amassed 93 runs in three Tests in a 0-3 defeat against the Kiwis, while he managed 195 runs in five Tests Down Under. After making an unbeaten 100 in the second innings of the series opener in Perth, he added another 95 in the last eight innings.
He was dismissed eight times outside the off-stump, and the batter didn’t even try to stay in the middle. There is a possibility of him getting dropped from the team, considering his performances. Manjrekar feels Kohli can return to form if he plays county cricket in England.
“Kohli needs to play a lot of red-ball cricket. He can head to county cricket, with the new season starting in April. He could join a county team like Pujara and gain match practice,” Manjrekar said in the latest episode of Star Sports’ Deep Point podcast.
“India can evaluate his performances in the first few Tests. If he performs well, he can remain a part of the Playing XI, but if he fails, that wouldn’t be good for Indian cricket. Playing county cricket before the Test series could be a much-needed move for him,” he added.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have regularly played county cricket in the last few months. Meanwhile, Sanjay Bangar backed the batter. “I am backing him as he is fit and I believe he can play for the country,” he said.
Virat Kohli was named in Delhi’s 22-member Ranji Trophy squad for the two games, but the veteran hasn’t made himself available.