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

[Trichromatic]

On 1/10/2026 at 1:14 PM, Nonbeliever said:

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. 

 

He would have scored 12k+ runs if he had played from 2003-2013.

[Trichromatic]

On 1/10/2026 at 2:29 PM, LordPrabhzy said:

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.

 

 

 

Kohli had limitation, not a flaw which he could work on later stages of the game.

[putrevus]

6 hours ago, Trichromatic said:

 

He would have scored 12k+ runs if he had played from 2003-2013.

1990s were played on most batting friendly wickets followed by 2000s.

[kosingh]

In early 2000s, would Kohli have found a place in the test team? Who did sit out? Dravid? Tendulkar? Captain Ganguly? Laxman? It would have been hard. Kohli opening in tests with Sehwag? 

[rollingstoned]

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

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.

Wankhede pitch supports that strokeplay which is why you find Mumbai batsmen Good at it. In current team Kela plays that shot well. 

[goose]

the average ODI score across the world is probably close to overtaking the average test innings score.

 

kohli is scoring tons for fun (not quite today). it's quite mad he's not playing tests

 

root and smith are going to carry on till they're 40

[nevada]

43 minutes ago, goose said:

the average ODI score across the world is probably close to overtaking the average test innings score.

 

kohli is scoring tons for fun (not quite today). it's quite mad he's not playing tests

 

root and smith are going to carry on till they're 40

Towards the end of their careers, players seek their comfort zone. Smith and Root still have the hunger for test cricket while Kohli finds ODIs motivating. 

[goose]

12 minutes ago, nevada said:

Towards the end of their careers, players seek their comfort zone. Smith and Root still have the hunger for test cricket while Kohli finds ODIs motivating. 

 

i reckon he hates his current predicament. at his age you are in it for the glory which will only come in the 2027 WC and that's only if india win. these ODIs are necessary but meaningless for him. meanwhile his test stats must really weigh on him

[Nonbeliever]

On 1/11/2026 at 4:21 PM, Trichromatic said:

 

He would have scored 12k+ runs if he had played from 2003-2013.

His pathetic game against spin and in that great batting line up, more than half of career he would be batting at number 6 at best

Edited January 14 by Nonbeliever

[putrevus]

Kohli still has best avg in India over guys like Sachin,. Dravid and Sehwag and Laxman. He would be just fine in any Indian batting lineup.

 

This is Era where Ashwin and jadeja averages in India were 21 and 20. Bhajji's avg in India was 28 and Kumble was 24.

 

He is better than any other Indian batsman other than Sachin in tests and best odi batsman.His fall was unexpected and that has got to do with him playing all formats non stop plus IPL.It took toll on him.

Edited January 14 by putrevus

[New guy]

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

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.

Are you being serious? Right from teenage Sachin could hit square of wicket both on front and backfoot. In fact his backfoot square of wicket shots like below were legendary 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sachin had legendary cuts behind the wickets including upper cuts behind square and he was a good hooker as well as puller on the leg. He owned warne because balls pitched up would be bit for six but shorter length could be cut both square and late cuts.

 

 

 

In fact he later cut down on square cuts because teams were targeting him there because he hit a lot of them instinctively.

 

Keep in mind hook shots are square of behind wicket, unlike the regular pull of front foot which both Kohli and Sachin have 

 

 

 

 

 

He also was an expert in hitting over slips for late cuts 

 

 

 

 

 

He was an excellent sweeper behind the square

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later he also developed the paddle sweep etc for more runs behind the wicket 

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/d0o3y01yXpU?si=LcU83X5KB_L2M-2H

 

 

 

 

 

When you have to lie through your teeth to defend your favorite it becomes kind of pathetic.

Edited January 14 by New guy

[Gollum]

On 1/11/2026 at 11:08 PM, putrevus said:

1990s were played on most batting friendly wickets followed by 2000s.

90s was a tough batting era. Only Sachin, Lara and Steve Waugh stood out from the rest. Likes of Ponting, Dravid, Kallis blossomed only in early 2000s when pitches got flatter. 

 

Even in ODIs. Consistent 300+ scores became a norm around 2002-03. 

[Gollum]

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

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 maybe. But he had a good cut shot from highlights. Never seen Kohli cutting. 

 

But Sachin was the OG 360 player. Had good square dive, square cut, late cut, upper cut, ramp shot. And on leg side, he had 2 kinds of sweeps behind square, leg glance, hook. Some of the shots like ramp and upper cut he developed in the second half of his career, which shows how versatile and creative he was. 

 

Only ABDV had a comparable 360 game and he debuted in mid 2000s when T20 was becoming big. 

Edited January 14 by Gollum

[Chaos]

When fisherman meets boland in tests @Lord @Nikhil_cric:

 

[vvvslaxman]

2 hours ago, Chaos said:

When fisherman meets boland in tests @Lord @Nikhil_cric:

 

[sage]

Can’t believe it’s being suggested that Sachin was a limited player

[Chaos]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

And u missed his shocking face looking at pitch for good 30secs alll shell shocked

[vvvslaxman]

57 minutes ago, Chaos said:

And u missed his shocking face looking at pitch for good 30secs alll shell shocked

This is picture of him trembling even before the ball is received lol

[putrevus]

22 hours ago, Gollum said:

Viv maybe. But he had a good cut shot from highlights. Never seen Kohli cutting. 

 

But Sachin was the OG 360 player. Had good square dive, square cut, late cut, upper cut, ramp shot. And on leg side, he had 2 kinds of sweeps behind square, leg glance, hook. Some of the shots like ramp and upper cut he developed in the second half of his career, which shows how versatile and creative he was. 

 

Only ABDV had a comparable 360 game and he debuted in mid 2000s when T20 was becoming big. 

Sachin did not have sweep shot either, he had lap shot which he used later in his career.Viv had cut shot but he was more onside player plus offdrive and loft off drive were his shots.

 

Sachin was getting bogged down with leftarmers bowling round the wicket too.Even guy like Giles was locking him up.

 

Kohli lack of offisde shots behind the square did not bother him till his slump and they are not bothering him in his odi batting even now.

[goose]

conversing with @putrevus on tendulkar is like chatting to chatgpt when it starts hallucinating.