New Delhi: Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has shared his opinion on the “panic” state the Indian cricket has been left in, following the twin Test departure of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He drew parallels with how Indian cricket turned back on track after the legendary “Fab Four” of India stepped away from the five-day format.
Within a span of five days, the Indian cricket team saw an unexpected and drastic change as the two modern-day legends Kohli and Rohit bid farewell to Test cricket and prompting concerns about Team India’s future in the longest format. Finding the current scenario quite similar to the past, Manjrekar drew comparison to the time when Indian cricket saw the heartbreaking exits of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly – the then Fab Four of India.
Taking to Instagram, Manjrekar posted a video titled “Life after Rohit and Virat?” and with the caption, “Indian cricket moved on after the Fab 4 – it’ll rise again after Rohit and Virat.”
“I know there’ll be a few fans concerned. There was a sense of panic when the Fab Four quit all at the same time, but guess what? A couple of years later, India was the number one Test team in the world,” Manjrekar said in the video. This was indeed the case as India had risen to the top of the ICC Test rankings soon after the transitional phase.
“So, as long as I believe in this very strongly, as long as the sport is popular in India and there are enough young players, youth, desperate to play for India, and there are thousands in India, which means anybody who sort of comes through that kind of a grind has to be quality talent,” Manjrekar added.
India’s bowling attack
The 59-year-old also brought to notice how the Fab Four’s retirement coincided with the emergence of a more potent bowling attack for India. “It will take a bit of time, but let’s not panic. Remember what happened after Fab Four, the Indian bowling quality improved. The same could happen here as well, and India will continue to be at the top,” he added.
Besides Rohit and Kohli walking into Test sunset, veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin already called it quits from Tests during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy last year. This leaves the Indian team totally inexperienced for the upcoming five-Test England tour, which commences next month.
Sanjay Manjrekar feels there’s no need to panic over Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s Test retirements, comparing it with the red-ball exit of India’s legendary “Fab Four”. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
