Indian cricket has always evolved with time and former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes the difference between formats explains many career choices players make today. Reflecting on the contrast between Test cricket and ODIs, Sanjay Manjrekar recently shared his views on why batting at the top in 50-over cricket is far less demanding and how that reality connects to Virat Kohli stepping away from Tests.
Earlier this week, centuries from Joe Root and Steve Smith in the final Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground prompted Sanjay Manjrekar to express disappointment over Virat Kohli choosing to move on from the longest format. Virat Kohli, who remains the leading century-maker in ODIs with 53 hundreds, retired from Test cricket in May 2025 after a difficult Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.
Virat Kohli ended his Test career after 123 matches, scoring 9,230 runs including 30 centuries and 31 half-centuries. His final series against Australia proved challenging, as he managed only 190 runs across nine innings and repeatedly struggled against deliveries outside the off stump. Sanjay Manjrekar felt this exposed a technical issue Virat Kohli couldn’t fully resolve, which may have influenced his decision to retire from Tests.
Sharing his thoughts on social media, Sanjay Manjrekar explained that if one looks back at the Indian cricket history, many players who opened the batting in ODIs were actually middle-order batters in Test matches. According to him, those players were far more comfortable batting at numbers four, five or six in Tests but were eager to move up the order in ODIs.
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Sanjay Manjrekar pointed out that in limited-overs cricket, bowlers are more focused on containing runs rather than aggressively dismissing top-order batters in the early overs. This, he believes, makes the role more appealing and accessible. He added that the fact so many players want to bat in the top three in ODIs says a lot about how the format has shifted in favour of batters.
His comments have once again stirred discussion around format differences and the tough demands of Test cricket in the modern era.
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