Sanjay Manjrekar is in the news for his recent comments. The veteran broadcaster has often hogged the limelight with his comments on the air and he also missed a couple of IPL seasons due to it. Following Manjrekar's is on-air comments, his old post is also viral on X. During the India tour of Australia, Manjrekar questioned whether Virat Kohli belonged to Test cricket or not.
The former India batsman wanted VVS Laxman to get dropped from the playing XI and asked for Rohit Sharma to be given his Test debut. "I would still drop VVS & get rohit in for next test.Makes long term sense. give virat 1 more test..just to be sure he does not belong here," he wrote on X before the third Test match against Australia.
I would still drop VVS & get rohit in for next test.Makes long term sense. give virat 1 more test..just to be sure he does not belong here.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) January 6, 2012
Virat was among the Indian batsmen struggling for runs during the series. Interestingly, the selectors wanted to drop Virat for the third game and they were ready to give Rohit his maiden Test cap. Captain MS Dhoni and vice-captain Virender Sehwag backed Virat and he proved his worth.
8 years later, Manjrekar reacted to his old post and wrote that he was proud of it. "Very proud of that tweet. In his 1st year in Tests, after scores of 11,0,23,9 in Aus, I remember, fans/media saying Virat does not belong here & had his neck on the chopping block for the next Test. I said give him 1 more Test to be sure. Glad Dhoni & me were on the same page," he wrote.
Very proud of that tweet. In his 1st year in Tests, after scores of 11,0,23,9 in Aus, I remember, fans/media saying Virat does not belong here & had his neck on the chopping block for the next Test. I said give him 1 more Test to be sure. Glad Dhoni & me were on the same page.😌 https://t.co/r50Qjm9KiW
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) December 28, 2019
Virat scored 44 and 75 on a tough Perth track in the third game. He slammed a brilliant century in Adelaide to cement his spot in the Test team. Virat was the only Indian centurion in the Test series.
There was no looking back for him after that and he became a regular in the Test team as well. Virat replaced MS Dhoni to become India's full-time Test captain during the 2014/15 Australia series. With 40 wins from 68 Tests, Virat finished his captaincy career as the most successful Test captain.