Former Indian cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has defended his seven-year-old tweet on Virat Kohli’s Test career. During India’s tour of Australia in 2012, Manjrekar was of the view that Kohli should be given one more chance just to be sure that he does not belong to Test cricket because of his continuous failure. "I would still drop VVS & get rohit in for next test.Makes long term sense. give virat 1 more test..just to be sure he does not belong here," tweeted Manrekar in 2012. Virat Kohli, Only Indian Cricketer in Ricky Ponting’s Test Team of Decade.

However, the tweet was highlighted by a Twitter user Trendulkar, who wrote, "this is the tweet of the decade for me." The commentator was quick to reply to the tweet and defended his statement he made way back in 2012.

Sanjay Manjrekar's Tweet in 2012

"Very proud of that tweet. In his 1st year in Tests, after scores of 11,0,23,9 in Aus, I remember, fans/media saying Virat does not belong here & had his neck on the chopping block for the next Test. I said give him 1 more Test to be sure. Glad Dhoni & me were on the same page,” Manjrekar wrote in his defense. Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah in Wisden's T20I Team of the Decade; No Place for MS Dhoni.

Sanjay Manjrekar's Latest Tweet

Interestingly, Kohli subsequently managed to score 75 and 116 (his maiden Test century) on the tour. It was turning point in Kohli’s Test career and since then he established as one of the best batsmen in the longer format of the game.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 30, 2019 07:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).