"Flawed Statement": Rohit Accused Of "Not Speaking His Mind" On Kohli's Form

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has questioned captain Rohit Sharma over his remarks while defending star batter Virat Kohli. During a pre-match press conference on Tuesday, Rohit was asked about Kohli's form, and his supposed shortcoming outside off-stump. However, Rohit played down any concerns, adding that Kohli will find a way out of the slump. "Kohli's off stump... you only say modern day great. Modern-day greats figure out their own path," Rohit had said.

However, Manjrekar labelled Rohit's remark as a "flawed statement, adding that Kohli does need help to sort out the technical issue.

"That is actually a flawed statement. But let's understand, he has to say that because he cannot go out there and put further pressure on the batter. However, from deep within, cricketers think differently. I was part of that statement. We couldn't actually speak our minds," Manjrekar said on ESPNcricinfo.

Manjrekar also blamed assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, who is also the batting coach, for not “addressing the chronic problem” regarding Kohli's technical issue.

 "But that is not true where a modern-day great will find his own way out. If that was the case, then he would have. That is why I'm no longer focussing on Kohli's problem, but on the guy who was supposed to solve the problem, that is the batting coach. And if he can't address these chronic problems that some of our batters have had, and these are mostly technical battles. So it is pretty obvious to everyone that Kohli needs outside help because he, on his own, hasn't been able to solve it" he added.

Kohli scored a century in the second innings of the Perth Test, which India won after being dismissed for 150 in the first essay.

However, he was dismissed for 7 and 11 in the second Test, which Australia won by 10 wickets to level the series, while in the drawn third Test at Brisbane he made 3.

(With PTI Inputs)