Sanjay Manjrekar takes a subtle dig at Virat Kohli during India vs England first Test, says ‘We know of a former batter that would…’
New Delhi: After announcing his retirement from Test cricket Virat Kohli still dominates the banter among those former cricketers, who are included in the commentary panel during the India vs England Test series. The opening one of the five encounters was finally started on Friday at Headingley, Leeds and although most of them had their say about the talismanic batter, the sentiments of the former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar were quite surprising.
Although Manjrekar did not refer to his name but the social media was at it with a quick connect and they implied that the allusion was to none other than Kohli. This test occurred after the 21 st over as India batted when England skipper Ben Stokes won the toss. Next, India was 77/0 in the game with KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal on the forefront.
Sanjay Manjrekar on Air:
“We know of a former batter who’d’ve gone after that delivery and got himself into trouble.” @sanjaymanjrekar is still poking at @imVkohli even after his retirement.#INDvsENGTest #INDvsENG #ViratKohli #SanjayManjrekar[Video] #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/kXCXhoeY1a
— Melapoondi V Lokesh (@lokeshvenkat171) June 20, 2025
Manjrekar noted that while the pitch might appear batting-friendly to many, the Indian openers deserved credit for their disciplined approach, respecting the ball and playing each delivery on its merit.
“Many would see this session and would think the pitch is placid. The seam bowlers haven’t looked potent, one important reason it is seeing that way is these two have batted well. Potentially wicket-taking, outside the off-stump full and they have been left alone. Jaiswal has done that, anything that has pitched right up into the stump is driven anything that has pitched wide is not disturbed,” he noted.
The next turn was shortly after, when Brydon Carse bowled the ball near the sixth stump line with the KL Rahul taking an attempt. Rahul stood calmly letting it go and the wicketkeeper picked it. That is when Manjrekar pointed out said, “There’s another example of it. We know of a former batter that would have gone after it and got himself into trouble but not these two.”
In the recent tour in Australia where India lost an agonizing 1-3 in the five match series Kohli was continuously bothered by deliveries bowled outside off stump. In actual sense, Kohli was dismissed eight of the total nine times his wicket turned up that he faced a delivery that was tossed somewhere near the fifth and sixth stump line, poking at it.