Indian captain Rohit Sharma and stylish batter Virat Kohli were seen struggling to get their mojo back in the recently concluded first Test match against Bangladesh at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Rohit just scored 6 and five runs respectively and on the other hand, Kohli managed to score 6 and 17 runs. However, India won the match by 280 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the two Test match series.
Team India along with Rohit and Kohli are currently in Kanpur preparing for the second Test match which is scheduled to start from September 27 at Green Park Stadium. However, there are chances that first day of the second Test match will likely to be called off due to heavy rain in Kanpur.
After Rohit and Virat's flop show in Chennai, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar said that BCCI has to be careful about treating certain players differently. He said that if Rohit and Kohli had featured in the Duleep Trophy then things would be different.
"Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli not playing wasn't good for Indian cricket nor was it good for the players. As we found out I'm sure had they played Duleep Trophy and both they had some time with the red ball in the middle things would have been slightly different, but they had the experience and the class to get back into form and see them for that reason for not being in form for the entire series they'll find ways to get runs. But something that one must make a quiet note of and that has been the problem with Indian cricket for a while is that certain players get picked out for a special treatment because of the status that they have reached with at the end hurts that icon more than anyone else."
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Sanjay Manjrekar on Virat, Rohit comparison
Manjrekar reckoned that Kohli has played a lot more Test matches than Rohit Sharma and he has a good body of cricket. Rohit Sharma has played 60 Test matches scoring 4148 runs and on the other hand, Virat Kohli has played 114 Test matches scoring 8871 runs.
"Even as players, test batters Virat Kohli played a lot more test cricket he's got a much great body of work in test cricket. so that itself is where the comparison stops. but considering that they are aging players I clubbed them together or people club them together only with regards to rest before the series and that had a lot to do not so much with how much they played and who is more out of form and who need more practice. It's just because they have an iconic status and so they clubbed together. It's not based on cricketing logic."
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