NEW DELHI: Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh took a swipe at Sanjay Manjrekar after the former cricketer questioned Virat Kohli's decision to retire from Test cricket while continuing to play ODIs, suggesting that the one-day format is easier to sustain a career in.
Manjrekar triggered controversy by sharing his views in a video posted on Instagram, where he reflected on Kohli's Test career and expressed surprise over the timing of his decision to retire from the format. He felt Kohli could have chosen to work through his lean patch instead of calling time on his Test journey.
"If it was so easy to score runs in any format, then everyone would have made it. Let's just enjoy what people are doing. They are playing well, winning games, scoring runs, and taking wickets. That's all that matters. It doesn't matter who plays which format. Virat, whether he plays in one format or all formats, has been a fantastic player and a big time match winner for India," Harbhajan said at an event, as quoted by Times of India.
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"They inspire the next generation. Manjrekar has his own way of thinking. The way I see it is that Virat and these players have played a major role to take this game forward. Virat is an unbelievable player. Even today, if he plays Test cricket, he will be our main player," he added.
A few days back, Kohli's brother, Vikas Kohli also lashed out at Manjrekar after Virat cracked a match-winning 93 off 91 balls in the first ODI against New Zealand in Vadodara on Sunday.
"Such a easy format isn't it ... someone gave his gyaan few days back... easier said than done...," Vikas wrote on Threads.
What Manjrekar said
"Well, as Joe Root attains new heights in Test cricket, my mind goes to Virat Kohli. He walked away from Tests, and it's unfortunate that in the five years that he struggled before retiring, that he didn't quite put his heart and soul into finding out the problems as to why he was averaging 31 for five years in Tests," Manjrekar said.
"It was okay, Virat Kohli just walked away from cricket, retired from all cricket. But that he's chosen to play one-day cricket actually disappoints me more, because this is a format which for a top-order batter, I've said before as well, is the easiest format," he added.
