IND vs NZ: Sanjay Manjrekar takes shot at Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar while praising Virat Kohli

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IND vs NZ: Sanjay Manjrekar on Thursday (October 17) praised Virat Kohli for coming to bat at three in the absence of Shubman Gill, who was ruled out of the first Test against New Zealand at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru due to a stiffness in neck.

Manjrekar called Virat Kohli a 'true champion' for walking in to bat at three for the team. In his post made on X, he also took a shot at former India captains Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar for not wanting to bat up the order in Test cricket.

"Hats off to Virat Kohli! Coming out to bat at no 3 bcoz the team needed it. Ganguly, Tendulkar were very keen to open in white ball cricket, but never wanted to go up the order in Tests. That's a true champion right there for you! Virat," Manjrekar wrote on X.

Virat Kohli's decision to bat at three did not augur well for India as the 35-year-old was dismissed for a nine-ball duck. A delivery from William ORourke nipped back in with a good bounce as Kohli got on his toes to defend. However, crouched for space, the ball kissed his gloves before landing into the hands of Glenn Phillips, who picked a brilliant forward-diving catch at leg gully.

Manjrekar questions Kohli's technique after his dismissal for duck vs New Zealand

Sanjay Manjrekar took note of Virat Kohli's dismissal and criticised his technique of always trying to play on the front foot. He said that the dismissal against ORourke could have been avoided had Kohli been on the back foot.

"Have said this before will say it again. Virat has compounded his problems by wanting to be on the front foot to every ball. No matter the length. Today's dismissal ball could have been comfortably tackled off the back foot," Manjrekar wrote on X.

Sarfaraz Khan and KL Rahul were also dismissed for ducks as India were reeling at 34/6 at lunch.