Veteran Indian cricketers Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were under intense pressure after their poor comeback in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Both players have been scrutinized from different corners of the cricket world.
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar spoke about these two senior players in the team and mentioned that they are dragging their team down with their performances. He also blamed the performances of these two players for India's poor performance in the Test series against Australia.
Manjrekar spoke about the famous “hero worship culture” in India and claimed that it is affecting the team in a negative way. He blamed this culture as the main reason behind India's decline in the past few months.
Sanjay Manjrekar blames Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for 'dragging the team down'
While writing his column in Hindustan Times, Sanjay Manjrekar blamed India's hero worship culture as the main reason for the team's performance in Tests in the last two series. It is believed that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are dragging the team down with their performances now.
He claimed that such a culture has been around in Indian cricket forever and even recalled the time when the same used to happen when players like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid were in the mix.
“The main reason behind this is the culture of icons we have in India and the hero worship of some players. Be it 2011-12 or now, it is the same scenario playing out,” Manjrekar wrote in his column.
He added: “Top players who stand out are doing the opposite of what they have done throughout their careers and thus dragging the team down with their diminished performance. When it comes to top players, we as a nation are unable to remain rational.”
The former Indian cricketer explains how cricketing logic goes out the window when it comes to the careers of leading players. According to him, the selectors are also afraid of excluding these players from the team.
“Cricket logic goes out the window and then the selectors hope the player leaves on his own so he doesn't look like the villains who brutally ended the career of a great player worshiped by millions of fans. They just fear the backlash.”
Sanjay Manjrekar asks Ajit Agarkar to take the final decision
Sanjay Manjrekar also asked the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee to take tough decisions and questioned Rohit Sharma's ability to stay in international cricket in the future.
“Does Rohit Sharma still have the ability to make up for all his recent failures? I'd like to think the current selection committee has a good idea about this.”
“But now comes the tough part: Can the committee actually take a tough decision in line with its observations? For Mr. Ajit Agarkar to make a pure cricket decision no matter who the player is, we have to make his job easier,” he explained.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's latest numbers
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been in poor form with the bat since India won the 2024 T20 World Cup in June 2024. Both players retired from T20Is after India won the title. The Men in Blue did not play as many ODI matches as a lot of Test cricket was played.
India played five home Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand where both Rohit and Kohli failed miserably. Rohit Sharma scored 133 runs at an average of 13.30 while Virat Kohli scored 192 runs at an average of 21.33.
Their poor form continued in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as Australia's world-class bowling attack dominated both. Rohit scored 31 runs in three Tests at an average of 6.20 while Virat Kohli did slightly better with 190 runs at an average of 23.75 but was still below par.