Former Indian cricket team batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli should have taken part in the first round of Duleep Trophy matches. Both star batters failed to score big in the first Test match against Bangladesh in Chennai and Manjrekar was of the opinion that the domestic tournament would have helped them. While Rohit scored a combined 11 runs, Kohli could manage 23 runs in the two innings. In a recent interaction, the ex-India batter also hinted at ‘special treatment’ for the star duo and said that it has been a “problem with Indian cricket for a long time now”.
“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,” Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.
However, he also said that both Rohit as well as Virat are quality cricketers who have all the capability to bounce back in the second Test in Kanpur starting Friday.
“Virat and Rohit not playing (Duleep Trophy) was not good for Indian cricket, nor was it good for the two players. 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,” Manjrekar said.
“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,” he added.