‘Bowlers saved Virat Kohli in T20 World Cup final’

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has said that Virat Kohli’s inning in T20 World Cup 2024 final nearly cost India the game.

The star Indian batter was adjudged the Player of the Match for his 76 runs off 59 deliveries with the help of six fours and two sixes as India posted 176/7 on the board.

While several hailed the right-handed batter for his knock, Sanjay Manjrekar asserted that Kohli’s knock had put India in trouble as he played with a strike rate of 128.

According to the former cricketer, Indian bowlers should get all the credit for saving the day for the team with exceptional death bowling.

“By playing that innings, Hardik Pandya, one of their most devastating batters, had just two balls to face. So I thought India’s batting was good, but Virat Kohli had potentially played an innings that would’ve put India in a tight corner. And it almost proved to be that, before these guys’ bowlers came in the end,” Manjrekar said while talking to ESPNCricinfo.

For Manjrekar, a bowler should have been adjudged the Player of the Match in the T20 World Cup 2024 final instead of Virat Kohli.

“India were in a losing position, 90 per cent winning chances [for South Africa]. The complete turnaround actually saved Virat Kohli’s innings because he played virtually half the innings with a strike-rate of 128,” said Manjrekar.

“My Player of the Match would’ve been a bowler because they actually took the game from the jaws of defeat and won it for India,” he concluded.

It is pertinent to mention that Kohli, following the T20 World Cup 2024 final, announced that it was his last match for India in the shortest format of the game.

“This was my last t20 World Cup, and this is what we wanted to achieve,” the right-handed batter said in the post-match presentation.