Virat Kohli simply walked away from Tests instead of fixing his flaws: Manjrekar slams India star for prioritising ODIs

[Lord]

1 hour ago, goose said:

 

he was india's top run scorer in BGT 2022/23 

 

He scored around a 100 runs in first 3 Tests. Then they rolled out a patta where everyone scored and it was a tame draw.

 

So yeah he was not best or second best on 'tough' wickets

[goose]

32 minutes ago, Lord said:

 

He scored around a 100 runs in first 3 Tests. Then they rolled out a patta where everyone scored and it was a tame draw.

 

So yeah he was not best or second best on 'tough' wickets

 

wasnt the series still in the line when aus posted 480? 

 

kohli 3rd highest run scorer (197) at home to windies series 2023. jaiswal led on 266

 

he was bad alright but not as bad as some made out through all those 5 years. there ere patches of respectale contrbutions meriting a place in the side

 

 

 

[putrevus]

He never worked on his weaknesses partly due to his limitations of his technique and next is his ego.The second innings in his career never came as he refused to go back to basics and work his way up.

 

Plus India kept playing on Bunsen burners at home , so he was unable to regain his confidence. Even now after scoring all those runs in odis he said he did not beileve in  playing domestic matches.

 

You have to work on your weaknesses no matter who you are as a batsman. Pity as he was the torch bearer for test cricket for a decade.

 

Gill proved it is so hard to play all three formats, Kohli played all the three formats for decade that also led to him burning out.

 

Smith got banned for one year, Root plays only two formats, Williamson hardly plays under pressure.This guy Kohli never got the break from grind also. He should have still played FC before NZ series.

 

 

Edited January 7 by putrevus

[Ultimate_Game]

3 hours ago, wanted_desi said:

WE lost in Australia because of t hese two : Virat and Rohit. 

 

Yup. If we didn't have these two drag us down throughout with 2 walking wkts in the top 4, we wouldn't have lost the series. It was playing 9 vs 11.

[Lord]

9 minutes ago, putrevus said:

He never worked on his weaknesses partly due to his limitations of his technique and next is his ego.The second innings in his career never came as he refused to go back to basics and work his way up.

 

Plus India kept playing on Bunsen burners at home , so he was unable to regain his confidence. Even now after scoring all those runs in odis he said he did not beileve in  playing domestic matches.

 

You have work on your weaknesses no matter who you are as a batsman. Pity as he was the torch bearer for test cricket for a decade.

 

Gill proved it is so hard to play all three formats, Kohli played all the three formats for decade that also led to him burning out.

 

Smith got banned for one year, Root plays only two formats, Williamson hardly plays under pressure.This guy Kohli never got the break from grind also. He should have still played FC before NZ series.

 

 

 

Kohli got breaks when he wanted both in BGT and home series v England.

 

So if he felt he needed rest he could have skipped low profile series atleast.

[putrevus]

6 minutes ago, Lord said:

 

Kohli got breaks when he wanted both in BGT and home series v England.

 

So if he felt he needed rest he could have skipped low profile series atleast.

BGT was during Covid. He skipped wrong series, he should have skipped Bangladesh series or other series. England series was played on very nice pitches. But was he was already in terminal decline then, he never was the same after Covid.

 

Skipping series was not enough he needed to go back to FC cricket and play for half a season, needed t to go to England play county cricket.With his high profile any county team would have welcomed him.It is not late even now, he lives in England, if he wants he can still play county cricket but does he have the drive to succeed.

Edited January 7 by putrevus

[Lord]

2 hours ago, goose said:

 

wasnt the series still in the line when aus posted 480? 

 

kohli 3rd highest run scorer (197) at home to windies series 2023. jaiswal led on 266

 

he was bad alright but not as bad as some made out through all those 5 years. there ere patches of respectale contrbutions meriting a place in the side

 

 

 

 

Yes if you count scoring against WI as tough runs he's done alright

[NameGoesHere]

First they questioned why he wasn’t retiring and now they’re questioning why he retired. Man went himself, you need to let him go too. 

 

As for Manju, what exactly is this guy’s major malfunction? 
 

Sometimes I think he’s a ‘tard through and through.

 

Sometimes I think he’s a sadomasochist   bottom who likes to make provocative statements so he can get his backside pounded in return. 
 

But I think the truth is that he is a poisonous little shrub, envious, inflexible and unforgiving.

Edited January 8 by NameGoesHere

[vishalvirsingh]

I was lucky to see Vishakapatnam's innings of Kohli and Rohit.

 

ON indian Pitches , even today a yashasvi Jaiswal after scoring a 100 looks like a weaker batsmen then Kohli. You can figure out how good these 2 guys are-

Virat is a shade better than Rohit over all.

But having said that scoring on flat Indian Patta's and seaming and bouncy SENA tracks are 2 different Skills altogether.

 if kohli scores a 10/10 on Indian pitches( rohit scores a 9.5/10 and jaiswal scores a 9.5 /10 )- kohli's batting technique fishing outside when he needs to play straight and few  other flaws which even a basic batting coach like me can identify. kohli taking test retirement was a right decision.

But whats the reason that manju didi is unearthing this. Kohli did what suited him and suited india the BEST. now selectors are clear that they have to find some one with a better technique in SENA to play tests. 

kya matlab hai us pe lecture dene ka.  Remember some test matches

when I saw Manju scoring 10 runs against Wi and the pacer ( who was bowling at 140K Max) had hit him 3 times. Manu played test cricket bcos he was son of X...

Virat played on his merits. If I were a selector, i would have never picked manju didi to play for india when we had so many batting stars waiting in the wings.

i have met Sandeep Patil myself, he is a great human being and a top batsman. 

even srikanth and Kapil played longer than they should have....many guys played for India due to strong relationships.

My dear Rohan represented India probably bcos of his dad's name.

Manju didi should mind her business as Virat is no more playing in tests...what's the point in bringing that point.

 

Edited January 8 by vishalvirsingh

[putrevus]

I looked few of his innings when he was scoring runs too, he rarely played square of the wicket on offside or had any backfoot strokes behind the square.

 

More than his technique, his lack of scoring shots on offside  doomed him.If Cover drive is the only shot you have to even rotate strike, you becomes stuck at one end are facing the same bowlers over and over again.

[DeepSpace]

13 hours ago, putrevus said:

I looked few of his innings when he was scoring runs too, he rarely played square of the wicket on offside or had any backfoot strokes behind the square.

 

More than his technique, his lack of scoring shots on offside  doomed him.If Cover drive is the only shot you have to even rotate strike, you becomes stuck at one end are facing the same bowlers over and over again.

Chokohli has no backfoot game on the off side, period! It is shocking to see a world class batter with such a glaring deficiency. Most generational players like Viv, Sachin, etc. have demonstrated a strong backfoot game. That is part of the reason, Chokohli was so poor outside the off stump giving catching practice to slips and gully.

Edited January 10 by DeepSpace

[Gollum]

2 hours ago, DeepSpace said:

Chokohli has no backfoot game on the off side, period! It is shocking to see a world class batter with such a glaring deficiency. Most generational players like Viv, Sachin, etc. have demonstrated a strong backfoot game. That is part of the reason, Chokohli was so poor outside the off stump giving catching practice to slips and gully.

Boss, what's with this naming?

 

Kohli was anything but a choker. Has more clutch knocks in ICC events than anyone else in cricket history, look at what he accomplished in T20 WCs, won MOTM at all stages, MOTT multiple times, and then generational knocks like 2016 Mohali and 2022 MCG. Even in tests, so many clutch knocks...series where he carried his team. We would have lost so many tournament white ball games against Pak in the last decade and a half if not for that one man. 

 

If anything I'll say he overachieved for his limited talent, through sheer willpower, mentality and guts. 

Edited January 10 by Gollum

[vvvslaxman]

3 hours ago, DeepSpace said:

Chokohli has no backfoot game on the off side, period! It is shocking to see a world class batter with such a glaring deficiency. Most generational players like Viv, Sachin, etc. have demonstrated a strong backfoot game. That is part of the reason, Chokohli was so poor outside the off stump giving catching practice to slips and gully.

If only that was the only problem...

 

[Bigg Brother]

On 1/7/2026 at 10:11 PM, goose said:

 

he was india's top run scorer in BGT 2022/23 

Axar was best batter for us in that series scoring tough runs. Even Rohit scored tough hundred. Kohli's scored double on that Placid Ahmedabad track otherwise he was no show in first 3 tests.

[vvvslaxman]

24 minutes ago, Bigg Brother said:

Axar was best batter for us in that series scoring tough runs. Even Rohit scored tough hundred. Kohli's scored double on that Placid Ahmedabad track otherwise he was no show in first 3 tests.

When he was at his peak he played a couple of impactful knocks in Tests. Otherwise he wasn't that good. Chase master in LOI. Opposite in Tests in 4th innings.  I think he has a good percentage game that works well on wickets that don't misbehave.

[Nonbeliever]

He should be thankful that he wasn't playing in the era of warne or Murali else with his medicoraity against spin he couldn't have scored even 5k runs. 

[Prabhdeep Singh]

Impact is quite important:

 

Recent Indian players match winning test 100’s:

 

Kohli 14/30 in wins

Pujara 13/19 in wins

Rohit 12/12 in wins

Rahane 9/12 in wins

 

Rohit basically has the same number of 100’s in wins as Kohli & Pujara playing half the number of test matches.

 

 

 

Edited January 10 by Prabhdeep Singh

[LordPrabhzy]

Usuall dont care for Manjrekar opinions but he is right.. in the quest to be an all format super star ( which kohli was) he simply did not accept that his flaws in test cricket were holding him back and his priorities became changing diapers, finding real estate in London and being fit for RCB. He should have walked away around 2022 but he stretched the pain out till 2025.

 

 

[putrevus]

10 hours ago, DeepSpace said:

Chokohli has no backfoot game on the off side, period! It is shocking to see a world class batter with such a glaring deficiency. Most generational players like Viv, Sachin, etc. have demonstrated a strong backfoot game. That is part of the reason, Chokohli was so poor outside the off stump giving catching practice to slips and gully.

Sachin or Viv also had limited behind square of the wicket shots.

 

Sachin when was younger could play with vertical elbow to square of the wickets but that shot was not there once he started having elbow injuries.There is a reason why he stopped playing cover drive during 241 innings. Sachin had very limited behind square of the wicket on offside.

 

Viv was predominantly an onside player who also could play on frontfoot on offisde but also had limited strokes square of the wicket on offside.

 

Every player has weakness.Kohli scoring almost 10000 runs with his weakness is testament to his resolve.

 

Shot behind square of wicket shot is not natural for subcontinent players especially RHB.Only players I can think Gundappa, Zaheer Abbas ,Mahela and Sehwag because they had very high back lift.

[putrevus]

4 hours ago, Prabhdeep Singh said:

Impact is quite important:

 

Recent Indian players match winning test 100’s:

 

Kohli 14/30 in wins

Pujara 13/19 in wins

Rohit 12/12 in wins

Rahane 9/12 in wins

 

Rohit basically has the same number of 100’s in wins as Kohli & Pujara playing half the number of test matches.

 

 

 

That is utter nonsense, Rohit sharma in his 100 lives is not going to be Kohli.

 

The same nonsense was used by Gundappa vishwanath's support vs Gavaskar.

 

Taking 20 wickets is not in batsman's hands.