Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has showered massive praise on Indian skipper Shubman Gill and the rest of the players for their spectacular performance in the fourth Test match against England at Old Trafford. India’s ongoing Test series against England is their first without the presence of veterans Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who retired from Test cricket ahead of the tour.
Despite their absence, undermanned India took on the England team head-on, dragging the fourth Test to a draw. Manjrekar, who pointed out that Rohit was averaging about 10 in the last two Test series, while Kohli's average came down to 30 over the last five years, felt that India missed the experience of the duo but not their runs. More importantly, Gill’s captaincy has impressed Manjrekar a lot, prompting him to predict that Gill may feature in the 'league of legends'.
“Rohit Sharma was averaging 10 in the last two series that he played, and Virat Kohli was averaging 30 in the last five years. So they were perhaps not easy to replace, but it wasn’t like it was a huge loss. It was a loss of two very senior players, but not a loss of contribution, because they weren’t contributing as much,” Manjrekar said on JioHotstar.
“I think India have given a great account of themselves. They’ve kept the series alive, and it’s certainly interesting to see the mood in the bus on the England bus when it goes down to London compared to the Indian bus on the way down to London. As we see Shubman Gill here in a league of legends, as it said, and certainly has the opportunity to go to the top of that sort of leaderboard there, and I wouldn’t bet against it,” Manjrekar added.
India are currently trailing the five-match series 1-2, and the fifth Test, which will begin on July 31 at The Oval, will provide India an opportunity to level the series 2-2.