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NEW DELHI: As Team India embarks on a new era in Test cricket without two of its biggest icons — Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma — former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has sparked a debate by urging the cricketing community to stop treating the duo as equals in the red-ball format.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Reacting to new Test skipper Shubman Gill’s remark that he will feel the pressure of not having Kohli and Rohit in the England series, Manjrekar took to Instagram to share a candid assessment.
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“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.The former India batter asserted that while comparisons may be valid in white-ball cricket, Kohli and Rohit are in very different leagues in Test cricket. “We even have a term for them, RoKo. I can understand it in white-ball cricket… but when it comes to red-ball cricket, there’s absolutely no comparison between the two,” he added.Backing his stance with numbers, Manjrekar pointed to Kohli’s dominant record in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) countries. “Virat Kohli has got 12 hundreds. Rohit Sharma in SENA countries — just the one, against England at The Oval in 2021. He’s played over 100 innings and averages 40.”
“And I dare say, had he gone to England, that average would have dropped into the 30s,” he said, before ending with a blunt punchline: “So, when it comes to red-ball cricket… I say, RoKo, stop that.”Manjrekar’s comments have reignited discussions on India’s red-ball legacy and the contrasting impact of two modern giants of Indian cricket.
