Harbhajan Singh takes brutal dig on Sanjay Manjrekar over 'easiest format' claim on Virat Kohli

Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh has come out in support of Virat Kohli after the latter was heavily criticised by Sanjay Manjrekar. This camew after Manjrekar had recently made a bold statement on Virat, claiming that he chose to play ODIs as it is an "easier format" in comparison to Tests where he was struggling.

Harbhajan's verdict on criticism against Virat

However, Harbhajan didn't quite agree with Manjrekar's criticism on Virat and highlighted how difficult it is to score in each and every format. He even said that any player would be able to make it big if it was so easy to score runs in international cricket. The former spinner further went on to hail Virat for his endless contributions towards Indian cricket and remarked that he is a big inspiration for the younger generation of cricketers.

“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 on the sidelines of an event announcing the partnership between Mumbai Indians and Malaysia Airlines.

“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,” he added.

Manjrekar's statement on Virat

Meanwhile, Manjrekar had earlier raised questions over Virat's decision to retire from Tests and was criticial of him for choosing to continue playing ODIs.

"Well, as Joe Root attains new heights in Test cricket, my mind goes to Virat Kohli. He's walked away from Tests, and it's unfortunate that in the five years that he struggled before retiring, 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. That is for another time as to what he could have done. But I just feel sad that people like Joe Root and Steve Smith, Kane Williamson are really making a name for themselves in Test Cricket," Manjrekar had said on his Instagram handle.

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Meanwhile, Virat had continued his stunning ODI form in the first game of the three-match series against New Zealand. He played a match-winning knock of 93 as the hosts chased down the 301-run target with six deliveries left to spare in Vadodara. However, the 37-year-old got dismissed by Kristian Clarke for just 23 runs in the second ODI and wasn't able to contribute much to the Men in Blue's total of 284/7 in 50 overs.