Sanjay Manjrekar has confirmed that Virat Kohli shares an uneasy relationship with Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar, following the batter’s remarks on having to prove a point he made on the RCB podcast on Friday. Rumours of a rift between Kohli and Gambhir-Agarkar have been doing the rounds since last year, when India’s most successful Test captain announced his retirement from the format he adored the most. The debate reopened following Virat’s fiery remarks against certain ‘people’ when asked about his aspirations to play the 2027 World Cup. However, Manjrekar reminded Kohli of a simple fact: his performance in Test cricket between 2020 and 2025. A five-year stretch which saw Kohli’s average drop from close to 60 to 46.85.
Manjrekar went on record to state that the environment Kohli referred to was the coach-selector duo. And rightly so, considering Kohli’s average slumped to a mediocre 31 in the last five years of his Test career, a phase during which hundreds dried up, runs became hard to come by, and his weakness outside off stump showed little improvement. Explaining how things operate differently in the Gambhir-Agarkar era, Manjrekar pointed out that while it is understandable why Kohli feels the way he does, his recent decline in Test cricket can’t be ignored.
“Environment. Now, it's important because I don't think anybody will be looking to read between the lines here. So I might as well be the bad guy here. So, environment, what is he trying to say? It's very easy to see. When he was with Ravi Shastri as captain and when he was a player as well, Ravi Shastri was right behind him, motivating him and backing him no matter what, a bit too much. It changed. Rahul Dravid left, Gautam Gambhir came in. So that's the environment that he's talking about, where it changed and he may not have felt as comfortable as he did before. A certain chairman of selectors also came in, a guy who has his own view, and is a very self-respecting, strong individual. His plans for Indian cricket differ from those of the selectors previously. So that is the environment he is talking about,” Manjrekar said on Sportstar’s Insight Edge podcast.
{{/usCountry}}“Environment. Now, it's important because I don't think anybody will be looking to read between the lines here. So I might as well be the bad guy here. So, environment, what is he trying to say? It's very easy to see. When he was with Ravi Shastri as captain and when he was a player as well, Ravi Shastri was right behind him, motivating him and backing him no matter what, a bit too much. It changed. Rahul Dravid left, Gautam Gambhir came in. So that's the environment that he's talking about, where it changed and he may not have felt as comfortable as he did before. A certain chairman of selectors also came in, a guy who has his own view, and is a very self-respecting, strong individual. His plans for Indian cricket differ from those of the selectors previously. So that is the environment he is talking about,” Manjrekar said on Sportstar’s Insight Edge podcast.
{{/usCountry}}“It happens to all of us when we are coming to the end of our careers, we start blaming a lot of other things for a problem that lies within. All Virat has to do. Forget about the environment, forget about who wants you out or who doesn't. Just look at your record in the last 5 years in Test cricket. Do you deserve to have an average of 31 in five years at the Test level? So we're just failing, and you got a long rope as you deserve to get, and in Indian cricket and culture, you get the longest rope possible.”
Manjrekar's expectations from Kohli
If Kohli makes it to South Africa next year, it will mark his fifth shot at a 50-over World Cup. He won it in his very first attempt in 2011, but has not been able to get his hands on it since. In 2023, Kohli came agonisingly close, breaking the record for the most runs scored in a single edition of the World Cup. But while there is no denying Kohli’s consistency in the tournament, the knockouts have often been cruel to him. In the 2015 and 2019 semifinals, Kohli was dismissed for 1. Although he scored his 50th ODI hundred against New Zealand in the 2023 semifinal, followed by a fifty in the final, he still could not help India win the World Cup.
This time around, however, Manjrekar’s expectations from Kohli are slightly different.
“As far as 2027 World Cup is concerned. I think he is still good enough to be part of that tournament because it's going to be physically fit. He’s worked hard at it. But it's not about Virat Kohli getting a lot of runs in the World Cup, like in 2023, because, for somebody with his experience, skills, abilities, and stature, I want to see Indian players with big, iconic names do it in the finals. The semis and finals, to win the World Cup for India. Like some iconic players from countries have done. MS Dhoni’s 91 not out at the World Cup final will always be remembered. Viv Richards in the final, Ricky Ponding in the finals. Aravinda de Silva,” Manjrekar added.
“So if Virat plays well in the 2027 World Cup final, I will ignore whatever he does in the lead-up to the knockout games. But if he can't do it in the last two games, then all the opportunities given to him are wasted because that has to be the minimum expectation from somebody like a Virat Kohli.”