Kohli gets away due to his ‘brand’: Manjrekar

New Delhi, December 17

Sanjay Manjrekar has expressed his disapproval of the behaviour of India captain Virat Kohli during the second Test. At Perth, Kohli and his Australian counterpart, Tim Paine, almost bumped into each other on the field when Paine was completing a run and Kohli walked into his way.

“That last gesture, Virat Kohli coming in the way of Tim Paine, that was completely uncalled for,” Manjrekar said while analysing the game on TV. “Actually, what if Kohli was not a such a great player getting all the runs that he does? Some of his antics and behaviour on the field would have created quite a bit of stir and got lot more criticism. It’s just that he is such a champion batsman, people are sort of accepting that.”

“In this Test match, in this series so far, the guy who has been most aggravated on the field on both sides has been the Indian captain,” added Manjrekar. “He can get runs despite having this kind of approach to cricket.”

Referring to Kohli’s reaction on being given out yesterday, Manjrekar said that Kohli got away with a lot because of his ‘brand’.

Brand Kohli

“For example, I mentioned Virat Kohli the brand, and that’s why he gets away with a lot of things,” Manjrekar said. “Lot of people haven’t talked about his reaction after he was given out. Any other player, low profile name, I am sure would have got some kind of a warning from the referee.”

“We have heard nothing from the officials about his behaviour when he walked off. If you see that again, and at some point we have to show it, because there’s clear show of dissent in public that he was given out,” Manjrekar continued. “He was mouthing something and it was really out there for everyone to see. And I think, again, the Kohli brand has helped Virat Kohli not get the rap on the knuckle that he deserves.”

‘Not crossing lines’

However, former Australia captain Michael Clarke told Manjrekar that in his view, Kohli was not crossing any lines. “I think it is fine so far. I think I know what comes with Virat Kohli. I have played against him,” Clarke said. “And I think his attitude you see just there is exactly what you see when he bats. So you can’t have the cake and eat it too. We want him to make hundreds, we want him to be an aggressive player, we want him to stand up to opposition players. It’s the same conversation I had about David Warner. It’s the same conversation I had about Sourav Ganguly, unbelievable captain because he stood up to everybody.” — TNS

2 In the last 10 years, SA is the only visiting side to win a Test in Australia chasing in the last innings. They did it twice: At Perth and Melbourne, in Dec 2008