T20 World Cup 2024: Sunil Gavaskar's criticism made Virat Kohli better? Sanjay Manjrekar reveals impact of 'outside noise' on batter

Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar is hopeful of a good batting display from senior batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the forthcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

The current captain and his predecessor will be playing the T20 World Cup probably for the last time in their career and will be desperate to bow out on a high. Rohit has been playing in the T20 World Cup from the very first edition in 2007 while Kohli has been playing it since the 2012 edition. Kohli is yet to lay his hands on the coveted T20 World Cup title while Rohit has not done it since MS Dhoni led the team to win in 2007.

The senior players will be under immense pressure to take India to glory this year and Sanjay Manjrekar is confident that they will come up with a better performance than what they did in the semifinal of the 2022 T20 World Cup. Both Kohli and Rohit had a disappointing outing in the semifinal as England thrashed the Men in Blue by 10 wickets.

While Kohli scored 50, he did it in 40 balls. On the other hand, Rohit scored 28 runs off 27 balls as India finished on 168 for 6. In reply, England made a mockery of the target and chased it down in 16 overs without losing a wicket.

Sanjay Manjrekar also stated that the outside noise has made Kohli a better T20 player. The former India skipper has faced criticism from several quarters for his strike rate in T20s and recently came up with a better display in IPL 2024.

"Rohit and Virat will not commit the same mistakes made in that semis (2022 vs England). It’s worth acknowledging that Virat is not the same T20 player he was two years ago. He must know deep down, surely, that the ‘outside noise’ has actually made him a better T20 batter today than he was two years ago," Sanjay Manjrekar wrote in his column for the Hindustan Times.

Sanjay Manjrekar prefers Varun Chakravarthy:

Writing further, Sanjay Manjrekar stated that he would have preferred Varun Chakravarthy over Axar Patel for the T20 World Cup. The former cricketer stated that Axar is 'almost a replica of Ravindra Jadeja' and the selectors should have picked Chakravarthy.

"I would have personally preferred a Varun Chakravarthy in the squad over an Axar Patel, who is almost a replica of Ravindra Jadeja in T20s. Again, this selection shows India’s cautious approach to ICC selections.

"Axar’s batting has a lot to do with his inclusion. I would have strengthened my spin attack, considering the seam attack is a little thin with Mohammed Shami absent," wrote Manjrekar.