Former India cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar is not a fan of people clubbing Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli together in Test cricket. Both premier batters recently announced their retirement from Tests, which arguably did leave a void in India's batting line-up. A much younger team has been assembled by the BCCI for the England tour, which also marks the beginning of a brand new edition of the World Test Championship (WTC). The squad will be led by Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant will serve his deputy.
While the focus remains on the five Tests, scheduled to start from June 20, and the future, the two batters have also been very much in the discussion considering their stature in Indian cricket. Reflecting on the same and the notion of fans clubbing the two icons in the same bracket, Manjrekar in a video shared on Instagram made it clear why the duo don't belong together, at least in Test cricket.
"Shubman Gill made a statement about how he is not going to feel the pressure of the absence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the England Test series. And it stirred up the bee in my bonnet, which has been there for a while. It's not so much about the statement but the fact that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli tend to get clubbed together. We even have a term for them RoKo.
"I can understand in white ball cricket there's some comparison there. But when it comes to red ball cricket, there's absolutely no comparison between the two and I will never ever put them in the same bracket," Manjrekar said in the video.
To justify his point, the former cricketer then pointed out the stats, which reflects Kohli's dominance in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) nations as compared to Rohit. "Just to give you some numbers, so you don't have to take my word for it. When it comes to SENA countries, the true test of a Test batter, Virat Kohli has got twelve hundreds. Rohit Sharma in SENA countries just the one against England at Oval 2021. He's played over 100 innings but just the one hundred in SENA countries. And the average now is 40, and I dare say had he continued playing or had he gone to England that average would have dropped in the 30s. Can't be absolutely sure but that would be my educated guess.
"So when it comes to Test Cricket, Virat Kohli is in a different league. When we compare him with Rohit Sharma in white ball, yes, the RoKo. But this comparison in red ball cricket between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the same bracket, I would say ROKO (stop that)," he added.
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