Ahead of India’s ICC T20 World Cup game against the USA, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar advised Virat Kohli to moderate his aggression and adopt a more conservative approach on the challenging pitches in New York.
India will face the USA in their third Group A match at the Nassau County International Stadium on Wednesday. In their previous game, India defeated Pakistan in a low-scoring thriller by six runs. The USA also triumphed over Pakistan in their last game, winning in the Super Over after a tie. Currently, India tops the group with two wins and four points, while the USA is in second place with the same record but a lower net run rate.
Virat, the leading run-scorer in the tournament’s history, has struggled in this edition, scoring only one and four runs against Ireland and Pakistan, respectively, as an opener. Both times, he was dismissed while playing aggressively.
Virat entered the tournament after a stellar IPL season with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), where he scored 741 runs in 15 innings at an average of 61.75 and a strike rate of 154.69, including a century and five fifties. This season marked his highest strike rate in IPL history, showcasing an aggressive approach, particularly against spinners.
In an interview with ESPNCricinfo, Manjrekar suggested that while Virat’s game evolved in response to criticism about his strike rate, the “old Virat” would be more effective on New York’s difficult pitches.
“The problem with Virat Kohli is that there has been a lot of talk about his strike rate over the last two years, and he completely changed that during this IPL season. His strike rate had reached 150, although others had almost 200, but that is a different topic. He probably must have come to the T20 World Cup with that same mindset, but given the pitches, the old Virat Kohli would have been much better,” said Manjrekar. “So, I feel someone should tell him to bring back that earlier version of himself and then change again when the pitches become flat,” he added.
Squads:
India Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal
United Sta0tes Squad: Steven Taylor, Monank Patel (w/c), Andries Gous, Aaron Jones, Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh, Jasdeep Singh, Nosthush Kenjige, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan, Nisarg Patel, Shayan Jahangir, Milind Kumar, Shadley van Schalkwyk