Sanjay Manjrekar declares Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma weak links, fires India warning before BGT 2024-25

Former batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has fired a timely warning to Team India ahead of the highly-anticipated five-match Test series against Australia.

The Rohit Sharma-led side will be fighting it out against the reigning world Test champions in their final series of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle. Before leaving for Australia, India will be playing a three-match Test series against New Zealand at home, starting next week.

Even though Australia are the current World Test champions, India will be starting the series as slight favorites. In recent years, India have thoroughly dominated the Test rivalry between the two teams. Australia have not won a Test series against India since 2014-15 season.

On the other hand, India have won four Test series against Australia since the 2014-15 season. During this period, they have also won two Test series on the Australian soil. In 2018-19 season, India won their first-ever Test series in Australia before repeating the feat in 2020-21 season.

Sanjay Manjrekar's warning for Team India:

While India will be eyeing a third straight series win in Australia, Sanjay Manjrekar believes things won't be easy for Rohit Sharma & Co. The former cricketer-turned-commentator indirectly called Rohit as well as Virat Kohli the weak links of the team, saying that the veteran batsmen are not in their primes anymore.

Talking about youngsters such as Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, Sanjay Manjrekar said that the duo will have to rise to the occasion. He then called Rishabh Pant the only player in the Indian team who is in his prime at present.

"It might be a tough one. Virat and Rohit, both are not in their prime, they are not at the peak of their powers to be fair and others like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill have to rise to the occasion. Rishabh Pant is the only one that I feel is in his prime and a very important player," Sanjay Manjrekar said while speaking on SportifyWithPRG.

In the recently concluded two-match Test series against Bangladesh, both Kohli and Rohit struggled for runs. While Rohit did bat aggressively, he could not score big and managed to score a modest 42 runs in the series. On the other hand, Kohli scored 99 runs in four innings.

Speaking further, Sanjay Manjrekar shared his views on India's bowling, saying that the department is looking sorted. He also said that Australia do not have the same aura that they used to have in the past.

"India is sorted ... As for the Australians, the aura and ability they had in the past, where every game they played, they were like champions, is not there anymore."

The much-awaited series is scheduled to be played from November 22. The first game will be played in Perth. The second Test will be played from December 6 at the Adelaide Oval and will be a day-night affair.

The third game will take place at the Gabba from December 14 while the fourth will be the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The series will conclude with the New Year Test from January 3 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.