‘His innings put India in…’: Sanjay Manjrekar slams Kohli’s knock in T20 World Cup final | Cricket News

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar criticises Virat Kohli’s knockout in the 2024 T20 World Cup final against South Africa.

Sanjay Manjrekar criticises Virar Kohli’s knockout in the T20 World Cup final. (Photo-Getty)

New Delhi: The 2024 T20 World Cup has ended India’s long ICC trophy drought. The Men in Blue defeated South Africa by 7 runs in the final to lift their second T20 World Cup trophy. Rohit Sharma and co. remained unbeaten throughout the tournament and many key performances in the tournament helped Team India continue their winning streak.

Two unbeaten teams faced each other in the final and many players stood out in the big match with some sensational performances. But Virat Kohli’s knock made the biggest impact in the final. He didn’t have a great tournament with the bat but he stepped up to the plate and scored 76 runs from 59 balls. His innings helped India put 176 runs on the scoreboard.

The star Indian batsman also won the Player of the Match award for his impactful knock but former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar was not happy with Kohli’s innings. He said Virat Kohli’s innings would have put India in a tough spot and it was almost proven but the bowlers did a great job in the end.

“Playing that innings, Hardik Pandya, one of their most devastating batters, had only two balls to face. So I thought India’s batting was good, but Virat Kohli had potentially played an innings that would have put India in a tough spot. And it almost turned out that way, before these guys’ bowlers got to the end,” Manjrekar said on ESPNcricinfo.

Manjrekar also said that India were in a losing position and the complete turnaround by the bowlers saved Virat Kohli’s innings and his player of the match would have been a bowler.

“India were in a losing position, 90 per cent chance of winning (to South Africa). The complete turnaround actually saved Virat Kohli’s innings because he played almost half the innings with a strike-rate of 128. My player of the match would have been a bowler because they actually pulled the match from the jaws of defeat and won it for India,” he added.

Team India is set to return home

The Indian cricket team along with their families and executives will return home in a charter flight arranged by the BCCI. The Prime Minister of Barbados also confirmed that she expects the airport to be operational again within 6 to 12 hours, ending the shutdown caused by Hurricane Beryl.