The former Indian batter, Sanjay Manjrekar, has spoken out on the decision of Virat Kohli to retire from the longest format of the game. He reckoned that if one looks back at Indian cricket at the last few years, Manjrekar claimed that whoever opened in the ODIs had previously been middle-order batters in Tests. He felt that bowlers don’t aim to get top-order batters early.

Kohli, who has been a long-time successful campaigner for the blue brigade at number three in ODIs, has notched up overall 14557 runs in 296 innings at an average of 58.46 and a strike rate of 93.65, thanks to 76 half-centuries and 53 centuries at the best score of 183 runs against Sri Lanka.

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“A lot of people have asked me why I keep saying ODIs are easy for top-order batters. Go back a few years in Indian cricket and look at the guys who were opening for India for a long time in 50-over cricket. Those batters were middle-order batters in Tests. They weren’t very keen to open in Tests or bat in the top three. They were very happy to play at No. 4, 5, 6.” Manjrekar expressed in his Instagram video.

Sanjay Manjrekar doubles down on ‘easiest format’ comment regarding Virat Kohli

In the previous interaction on social media, Manjrekar shed light on his disappointment over Kohli leaving the longest format to focus on the 50-over format. He noted that the Delhi batter remains the leading century-maker in the 50-over format.

Watch the video here: 

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A post shared by Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaysphotos)

“But come ODIs, they were almost desperate to bat in the top three and open. Therein lies the answer as to why I believe it is easy for top order batters, because everybody is queuing up to bat in the top three.” Manjrekar addressed.

“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 why he was averaging 31 for five years in Tests.” The Mumbai-born added in the previous video.