Sanjay Manjrekar directly attacks Rohit Sharma over captaincy blunders in Bengaluru Test

Former India National Cricket Team batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has slammed the skipper Rohit Sharma for his captaincy blunder in the Test series opener against the New Zealand National Cricket Team at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

The hosts faced a shocking 8-wicket loss at the hands of Tom Latham & Co. to go down 0-1 in the ongoing three-match Test series.

Rohit Sharma Surpasses Virat Kohli In Unwanted List

The victory of New Zealand over India in Test cricket was the third overall and the first since 1988. It was Rohit Sharma's third loss as skipper in Test cricket at home and he went past Virat Kohli in an unwanted list of Indian captains with most losses in home Tests.

Kohli, who is one of the best captains in the history of Indian cricket, lost just two Test matches at home during his highly successful tenure as the captain.

Meanwhile, the loss against the BlackCaps was the third defeat of Rohit in Test cricket at home. With this, he went past Kohli and equaled MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Bishan Singh Bedi's record as they also had a similar number of defeats in home Tests.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi faced the most (nine) Test defeats as Indian captain on home soil, and Kapil Dev, along with Mohammad Azharuddin, is joint-second with four losses.

I was a bit surprised, I think tactically for Rohit Sharma, this Test match wasn't his greatest - Sanjay Manjrekar

Speaking after the match on ESPNcricinfo, Sanjay Manjrekar shared his thoughts on Rohit Sharma's captaincy. Notably, Rohit Sharma started off with his pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj as New Zealand were chasing 107 runs on the final day.

Bumrah bowled an extended spell and got two wickets, but Siraj was not able to get any breakthroughs. Also, Rohit didn't bring in Ravichandran Ashwin early and only brought him when 10 runs were needed to defend.

This act by Rohit Sharma didn't go well with Sanjay Manjrekar. The former India batter reckoned that Rohit was not tactically very good in the Bengaluru Test and made a blunder by letting Siraj bowl a long spell without being successful in picking wickets. Sanjay Manjrekar stated:

"The thing with pacers, you might get wickets, but there are always runs coming through edges. I was a bit surprised, I think tactically for Rohit Sharma, this Test match wasn't his greatest. I can understand Siraj getting one or two overs and Bumrah getting a long spell. But Siraj getting 6 overs in that forespell, I think that is far too many and already a lot of runs on the board, and you had that little margin to chase."

He would have been tough for the Kiwi batters - Sanjay Manjrekar on Ravichandran Ashwin

Manjrekar further said that the veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin would have made a significant impact in the match by troubling the Kiwi batters, had he started off with Bumrah instead of Siraj.

"And another part is Aswhin. When there is no lavish turn on the pitch, the captain tends to use him with a new ball. He would have been tough for the Kiwi batters had he started off with Bumrah, and even if he had come in, in the fourth over of the inning," Manjrekar added.

Meanwhile, the Men In Blue and the BlackCaps are all set to play the second Test match from Thursday, October 24, at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.

Also Read: Rohit Sharma breaks silence on Sarfaraz Khan vs KL Rahul debate after the latter fails vs NZ