Former Indian cricket team batter Sanjay Manjrekar has expressed confidence that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will not repeat their mistakes from the T20 World Cup 2022 semifinal match against England. In a column for Hindustan Times, Manjrekar highlighted the slow batting by the top-order batters in the previous tournament, which led to India scoring only 168 runs against England.
Manjrekar pointed out that in the semifinal match two years ago, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli faced the bulk of deliveries in the crucial first 10 overs. While Rohit scored 27 off 28 balls at a strike rate of 96, Kohli managed 50 off 40 balls at a strike rate of 125 before getting out in the 18th over. Despite a late surge from Hardik Pandya, England comfortably chased down the target in 16 overs with 10 wickets in hand.
However, Manjrekar believes that both Rohit and Virat have evolved as T20 batters since then. Rohit impressed with his aggressive batting in the Cricket World Cup 2023, while Kohli emerged as the highest run-scorer in the IPL 2024. Manjrekar is confident that the two senior players will not make the same mistakes in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024.
He also acknowledged that Virat has improved as a T20 player and hopes that the preoccupation with batting longer rather than quicker in knockout games is a thing of the past. With India set to start their campaign against Ireland on June 5, all eyes will be on Rohit and Virat to lead the team to success in the tournament.