Virat Kohli Must Learn To Accept This Reality With Calmness And Maturity Like MS Dhoni - Sanjay Manjrekar On The Skipper Calling 'Outside Talk' As 'Nonsense'

Former India batsman, Sanjay Manjrekar is unhappy with Virat Kohli’s remarks on the criticism players receive as ‘nonsense’. Virat Kohli defended KL Rahul who has suffered a slump in his form in the T20I series against England culminating in his exclusion in the last T20I.

Speaking on the eve of the ODI series, the India skipper was asked about KL Rahul’s position in the ODI team after being dropped from the 5th T20I. While he confirmed that Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan will open in the ODI series but did not said anything regarding whether Rahul will find a place or not.

Instead, he spoke about the criticism players get from outside the dressing room, basically the media and fans, and termed it as ‘nonsense’, and said that the management wants to keep the players in the right mental space.

“When an individual is going through a tough phase – it’s not like he forgets how to play, it’s just that mental clarity isn’t as good at the time – at that time if you know what things are being said and you’re being told you’re out of form, then you’re bringing in another external factor into your system. It’s a simple game: you have to watch the ball and react and hit the ball. You have to be in the moment and all this outside talk, to be very honest, is completely nonsense,” the skipper said.

“From the first to the last day of my career, all this outside talk has been nonsense to me. Who says what and why about a player, what’s the motive behind it, what’s the thinking behind it, it’s better that all that remains outside because we’re not going to let it enter our system even in the future. We are going to back our players and try and give them a good mental space,” he added.

Praise when you do well, critique when you don’t: Sanjay Manjrekar

However, Sanjay Manjrekar, who has been a commentator and media personnel for a long time after retirement, hits back at the Indian skipper. Manjrekar points out that the team and its players receive praises also when they do well. The 55-year-old asserts that the ‘outside talk’ is nothing but the public reaction to the team’s performance.

Sanjay Manjrekar reckons Kohli should learn from his predecessor MS Dhoni about how to handle criticism in a calm manner.

“Outside talk which Virat calls nonsense is basically public reacting to a public performance. And it’s always been the same- Praise when you do well, critique when you don’t. Virat must learn to accept this age old reality with calmness & maturity. Just like Dhoni did,” Sanjay Manjrekar tweeted.

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