‘Bowlers Saved Virat Kohli’: Sanjay Manjrekar says India star didn’t deserve POTM award

The 2024 T20 World Cup final continues to produce topics of debate. India’s victory against South Africa was not simple, with the bowlers’ late heroics pulling the team back into the game. Players like Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh’s deadly bowling rescued India from a situation where South Africa needed just 30 runs from 30 balls to win the match. But the Indian team ended up triumphant by 7 runs, thanks to the bowling trio. However, the man of the match went to Virat Kohli, much to the surprise of former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar.

At a post-game show at ESPNCricinfo, Manjrekar suggested that Kohli’s knock of 76 runs off 59 balls put India in a difficult situation before the pace bowlers came to their rescue. Manjrekar also said that his choice for the man of the match would have been an Indian bowler, not Kohli.

“When he played that innings, Hardik Pandya, one of his most devastating batsmen, had just two balls to face. So I thought India’s batting was good, but Virat Kohli had potentially played an innings that would have put India in a difficult situation. And it almost proved to be that, before these guys’ pitching came in at the end.

“India were in a losing position with a 90 percent chance of winning (to South Africa). The complete turnaround actually saved Virat Kohli’s innings because he played practically half the innings at a strike rate of 128 .My best player on the field would have been a bowler because they really took the game from the jaws of defeat and won for India,” said Manjrekar.

Former Zimbabwean cricketer Andy Flower, however, had a slightly different perspective. According to him, India have done enough with the bat by putting a total of 176 runs on the board. But he admitted that if Rohit Sharma’s men had lost the match, Kohli would have received a lot of criticism.

“If India had been defeated there, there would have been a lot of criticism against Virat Kohli, I think. Halfway through, I thought India had had enough and it was going to be a very tough chase by South Africa,” he said.