Sanjay Manjrekar revisits the support Virat Kohli received from MS Dhoni during 2011-12 Australia tour

40
Virat Kohli

While Team India are all set to retain their Test series against Australia, former India player Sanjay Manjrekar has recalled how an ‘out of form’ Virat Kohli was backed by the then Indian captain MS Dhoni during the 2011-12 tour of Australia. Kohli was going through a rough patch with the scores of 11, 0, 23 and 9 in the first two Tests. Even, before that, he had scored only 76 runs in three Tests against West Indies.

Virat Kohli

However, Manjrekar credited Dhoni for backing Kohli, who later scored a few crucial knocks in the last two Tests. With Dhoni’s support, Kohli then scored 44 and 75 in Perth and then smashed his maiden Test hundred in the final Test in Adelaide. Although India lost the series by 0-4, Kohli became one of the key batsmen for India.

“Virat Kohli is Virat Kohli. He always finds ways to score runs,” Manjrekar said on the Sony Sports Network. “The hundred that he scored in the 2011/12 series, India lost it 0-4. They’d lost to England 0-4. And I think that was the only century scored by an Indian in that series. He was a young man who actually was on the verge of getting dropped after Sydney. Dhoni backed him; he played in Perth scored a 70 and then he got that hundred.”

“Now at Adelaide, a lot of Indian batsmen have got runs. It’s a pitch closer to home. It’s got pace but the bouncer comes around chest high. It’s like an Indian pitch, but because it’s day/night and there’s going to be the pink ball, that changes things completely. The thing with Virat Kohli is that later, in 2014/15, he hit four hundreds,” Manjrekar further shared.

As far as Team India’s present status is concerned, they have lost the three-match ODI series by 1-2 and faced the reverse result in the three-match T20I series. And, now the Team India will look forward to retaining the upcoming Test series as well. However, Kohli will leave return to India after the pink-ball Test in Adelaide for the birth of his first child with his wife, Anushka Sharma.

Looking for a betting site with the best bonus for Indian customers? Discover the best ones for you!

If you like reading about MMA, make sure you check out MMAIndia.com
Also, follow India’s biggest arm wrestling tournament at ProPanja.com

ALSO READ:

He is also a human being: Steve Smith stands behind Virat Kohli’s paternity leave

BCCI prez Sourav Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah to continue office until next court hearing in January 2021