Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has once again opened up on Virat Kohli’s decision to step away from Test cricket, this time after watching Joe Root register his 41st hundred in the format. The milestone reignited the long-running comparison between the modern greats, with Root, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson and Kohli once grouped together as the celebrated ‘Fab Four’. Among them, Kohli remains the only one to have exited Test cricket. In a video shared on Instagram, Manjrekar expressed disappointment over Kohli’s choice, especially given the prolonged lean phase that preceded his retirement from red-ball cricket. “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,” Manjrekar said.
Manjrekar stressed that the concern was not about Kohli retiring, but about the selective nature of that decision. According to him, walking away from all formats would have been easier to accept. “It was okay, Virat Kohli just walked away from cricket, retired from all cricket. But that he’s chosen to play one-day cricket actually disappoints me more, because this is a format which, for a top-order batter, I’ve said before as well, is the easiest format,” he said. He went on to underline why Test cricket still matters the most in his view. “The format that really tests you is first, obviously, Test Cricket, and T20 cricket has its different challenges,” Manjrekar added. Manjrekar also pointed to Kohli’s fitness and discipline, suggesting that a comeback route was always available if the desire was there. “Because he’s so fit, supremely fit, you feel even more that he could have maybe continued his fight, you know, to get back into form. Even if he was left out of a series, he could have maybe gone down to first-class cricket, played in Australia, England, more matches in India, tried to make another comeback,” he said. The video concluded on an emotional note, with Manjrekar admitting that every big Test innings from Root, Smith or Williamson now brings a sense of loss. “When Joe Root gets hundreds or gets runs, or Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, my mind goes to Virat Kohli with a sense of disappointment and a little bit of sadness, because he cared so much for Test Cricket, didn’t he?”
