Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has opined that there is no need to panic in the wake of veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s retirement from Test cricket, as India got back up and moved forward following the retirement of Fab Four - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly. Rohit and Kohli announced their retirement from Test cricket in the span of a week, almost a month ahead of India’s Test tour of England. Rohit called time on his Test career on May 7, while Kohli retired from the longest format on May 12.
"I know there'll be a few fans concerned. There was a sense of panic when the fab four quit all at the same time, but guess what? A couple of years later, India was the number one Test team in the world," Manjrekar said in an Instagram video posted by him.
"So, as long as I believe in this very strongly, as long as the sport is popular in India and there are enough young players, youth, desperate to play for India, and there are thousands in India, which means anybody who sort of comes through that kind of a grind has to be quality talent," Manjrekar said.
Manjrekar also asserted that with the retirement of Rohit and Kohli, India will discover strong batters and bowlers.
"Yes, it will take a bit of time, but let’s not panic. Remember what happened after Fab Four, the Indian bowling quality improved. The same could happen here as well. You’ll discover new stars and new bowlers, and India will continue to be one of the top teams in the world," he said.
“You need some time. Because in overseas conditions, batting is very important, and that is where our current fragility lies. But guess what? There’s another way to look at this current Indian team, when Rohit and Virat Kohli were part of the Indian team. India lost 3-0 at home against New Zealand and lost poorly, badly in Australia as well. So guess what? With this team, we just have nothing to lose. All the best New India,” Manjrekar said.