WTC Final: "He Became Greedy To Pick Up A Few Runs" - Sanjay Manjrekar On Rohit Sharma’s Wicket

Last Update on: June 11th, 2023 at 03:53 pm

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar was not pleased with the manner in which Rohit Sharma handed away his wicket in the second innings of the WTC Final.

In the World Test Championship championship match against Australia, Team India suffered swift losses in a massive 444-run chase, losing the wickets of Rohit Sharma (43) and Cheteshwar Pujara (27) very cheaply in the closing session of Day 4.

Sanjay Manjrekar, a former Indian hitter, went into great detail about Rohit Sharma’s elimination. He claimed that the opener for India turned “greedy” as he faced Lyon and had played flawlessly up until that point in his innings.

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“Rohit Sharma didn’t put a foot wrong. T20 and Test matches have absolutely no connection. He struggled in IPL, but come Test cricket, he didn’t put a foot wrong unless that happened. It happened when a spinner came on after the three quality spinners went out. You suddenly felt there’s a chance to get some runs and a T20 shot came out of the psyche of Rohit Sharma,” Sanjay Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo.

“The ball came straight, it was nothing special. Maybe, there was a lapse of concentration, a bit too eager for runs. Once he went down on his knees, much to his chagrin, it was shorter than he would’ve liked. He became greedy to pick up a few runs,” Sanjay Manjrekar added.

Also Read: WTC Final: Rohit Sharma Breaks Multiple Records After His Valiant 43 Runs At Oval; Goes Past Sachin Tendulkar And MS Dhoni

“He knows how to get the big scores” – Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar, a former Indian batsman, made a further contrast and said that Virat Kohli, at his best, would never give the bowlers a chance once he was placed at the crease, setting him apart from Rohit.

“With some batters, you can say there’s a genuine problem of lapse of concentration. This is a guy who got two hundreds in his first two innings of his Test career. He knows how to get the big scores. Even against England in the four Tests, he got 100 and an 80 and looked a million-dollar right through the series,” Sanjay Manjrekar further stated.

“This wasn’t him losing the concentration. There’s some difference in Rohit Sharma playing in that fashion, against somebody like Virat Kohli in his prime. He was never going to give you a chance, once he’s in, he’s in. 4 hundreds against Australia in 2014… that’s what Kohli did,” Sanjay Manjrekar maintained.

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Together with Pujara, Rohit had been guiding the Indian innings after Shubman Gill had been controversially declared out earlier in the innings. Rohit appeared to be headed for a big score but lost his wicket to Nathan Lyon when he attempted a sweep shot but missed the ball, which ultimately hit his pads. Attempting an unorthodox ramp shot, Pujara was also disqualified immediately after Rohit unsuccessfully reviewed the leg before the call.