Sanjay Manjrekar recently commented on Virat Kohli’s passion for being on the field, comparing it to Sachin Tendulkar’s love for the game during his playing career. Manjrekar suggested that Kohli’s primary motivation is playing cricket, and he emphasized that Kohli values being part of the team more than power or leadership.
Sanjay Manjrekar highlighted that since Kohli captained India for an extended period, there is no reason to believe that he would be dissatisfied with the shift in leadership. In a conversation on sports journalist Vimal Kumar’s YouTube channel, Sanjay Manjrekar mentioned:
“The one similarity between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar is that both of them enjoy playing cricket. They want to be on the field. He was not part of the team for the game against Bangladesh but was still on the field. I don’t think Virat Kohli wants power or leadership.”
“He just wants to play and it looks like he enjoys being a part of the team,” he added. “He captained the team for a very long time, so there is no scope for an unfulfilled dream. Being with the team, travelling with players, going to the ground, and being part of winning moments are more important to him than having power.”
“Will be very difficult for Virat Kohli to reach 51 Test centuries” – Sanjay Manjrekar
Virat Kohli captained India in various formats until Rohit Sharma assumed leadership. Kohli’s tenure concluded when he stepped down as Test captain on January 15, 2022.
Sanjay Manjrekar emphasized that while Virat Kohli has excelled in Test cricket, matching Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 51 Test centuries will be a formidable achievement. He pointed out that accumulating runs in the longer format is considerably more challenging compared to ODIs.
“Sachin Tendulkar has 51 hundreds, 17 more than what Sunil Gavaskar finished with. For a good player, accumulating runs in ODIs is comparatively easy, as bowlers don’t always try to take a wicket. Tendulkar and Kohli are special because they also have a lot of Test hundreds. However, I believe it will be very difficult for Kohli to reach 51 Test centuries.”
It’s worth noting that Kohli has scored 29 Test centuries. However, he is just two centuries behind Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries.
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