Sanjay Manjrekar Identifies The Decisive Factor Behind India’s Defeat At Wellington

Cricket analyst and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar had identified a decisive factor behind India’s humiliating loss to New Zealand in the first Test of the two-match series.

India have been in a fine form in Test cricket since the inception of the ICC World Test Championship last year and had won seven games consecutively. They were on the top spot in the points table apart from being the number one Test side in the ICC World Test Team Rankings.

But, Kane Williamson and his men looked determined enough to beat the world giants and did so by cruising to a 10-wicket victory in the first game.

Tim Southee was awarded the Man of the Match for his brilliant bowling. He picked four wickets in the first innings and improved further in the second by clinching a fifer.

Sanjay Manjrekar Identifies The Key Reason Behind India’s Loss

“Kohli getting out early in both innings, that was a massive factor. If Virat Kohli gets runs, it puts the opposition off their plans. New Zealand stuck to their plans, nobody was out there counter-attacking and this did not help India’s cause,” Manjrekar told on Star Sports after the match.

India’s skipper and the number one batsman in the world, Virat Kohli is going through a rough patch in international cricket at the moment.

Precisely, he is not having a good time with the bat and the century master has been relatively quiet for a long time now.

Kohli had the worst series as a captain with the bat in the recently-concluded India-New Zealand ODI series as he could score only 75 runs in the three games he played. This was by far his poorest performance in a bilateral ODI series since his captaincy debut in the format.

His return to form is now long-awaited and spectators hoped for his comeback in the Test series.

However, he was cheapy dismissed in both the innings of the first Test match at Wellington on Friday.

Also Read: I Am Batting Really Well: Virat Kohli Plays Down Concerns Over Bad Form