‘Need to think less about Virat Kohli’s form': Sanjay Manjrekar miffed with obsession over Indian maestro

Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has expressed his displeasure over the Indians' obsession with Virat Kohli's form and not about the team's performance. The Indian team has played quality cricket to remain unbeaten in the T20 World Cup, but it is Virat Kohli who is grabbing the majority of attention due to his rough patch with the bat. The Indian maestro, who has been promoted as opener in the T20 World Cup, failed to score big and looked sluggish in the middle. His highest score this edition thus far is 24, which was a run-a-ball knock and came in the last match against Afghanistan. Things were even worse for him in the group stage, where he registered a hat-trick of single-digit scores - 1,4 and 0.

Kohli, the top run-getter in T20 World Cup history, was expected to replicate his incredible form from IPL, but nothing has worked for him with the bat thus far.

However, despite his poor form, India have managed to remain unbeaten in the tournament courtesy of their collective efforts with the ball, with Jasprit Bumrah leading the charge.

Manjrekar is fed up with the obsession over Kohli's form, which has become a bigger talking point than the Indian team's performance.

"I think we need to think more about Indian cricket and less about whether Virat Kohli is in form or not," Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.

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A big margin between other bowlers and Bumrah

Meanwhile, Bumrah has been the standout performer for India this tournament, with his consistent performance with the ball. After a solid show in group stage, Bumrah continued his golden run in the Super 8 stage with a brilliant spell against Afghanistan - where he claimed three wickets for just 7 runs in four overs. He delivered 20 dot balls out of 24 as the Afghan batters looked clueless and failed to find a way to get runs against him.

Manjrekar lauded the efforts of Bumrah with the ball in the tournament and compared him to Sunil Narine's Eden Gardens version in the IPL.

“Jasprit Bumrah is performing in USA and West Indies just like Sunil Narine at Eden Gardens during the IPL. He's looking even better and when you look at all the top-class bowlers around the world. There's a big margin between them and Bumrah and India is so fortunate to have him in your playing 11," Manjrekar added.