After both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli failed to deliver in the Test match against Bangladesh in Chennai, BCCI and the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee, has been accused of giving “preferential treatment” to the 2 players, which has “hurt Indian cricket and the players.”
Unlike rest of the Indian players picked for the Bangladesh Test series, Rohit, Kohli, along with Jasprit Bumrah were not picked for the Duleep Trophy, which served as a preparatory event for the players. However, while Bumrah, who was rested since the T20 World Cup win in June, returned with impressive bowling figures of 4/50 in the Bangladesh Test, both Rohit and Virat struggled to score runs.
Rohit only managed to score 11 runs in both the innings combined while Virat also was only able to score 21 runs in the Test match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Despite their poor returns in the Chennai Test, India won the match by 280 runs following all-round brilliance from Ravichandran Ashwin and centuries from Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant. However, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, in conversation with ESPNcricinfo, reckoned that things would have been different for both Virat and Rohit had they participated in the Duleep Trophy.
Manjrekar also warned the selectors against not giving “special treatment” to certain players owing to their status as it could “hurt Indian cricket and the player themselves.”
“I’m not worried, but I’m sure somebody made a note of the fact that they would have been better off had they played some red-ball cricket. There was the option of picking them in the Duleep Trophy. So one has to be careful about treating certain players differently and do what’s best for Indian cricket and for the player. Virat and Rohit not playing (Duleep Trophy) was not good for Indian cricket, nor was it good for the two players,” Manjrekar said.
“Had they played the Duleep Trophy and had some time in the red-ball cricket, things would have been different. But they have the class and experience to make a comeback later in the series, and I don’t see them, for that reason, not being in form. But something that one must make a quiet note of, and that has been a problem with Indian cricket for a long time now, is that certain players get picked out for special treatment because of their status, which eventually hurts that player more than anyone else,” Manjrekar added.
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