India Missed Kohli & Rohit, Not Their Contributions, Manjrekar lauds Shubman Gill

The ongoing England-India series is incomplete without the talks of former senior Indian test players Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. No matter what the result will be at the Oval in the fifth test, Shubman Gill has proved his abilities in the Edgbaston win and at the game draw in Manchester. His incredible knocks and captaincy across the whole series have made former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar make a bold statement, which stated that India might have missed Virat and Rohit's presence but not their contributions.

After the fourth test gets drawn at Old Trafford, Manchester, Manjrekar said that India has put England on the back foot despite injuries having hit the Indian camp and the retirements of three senior legends, which include Kohli, Rohit, and R. Ashwin.

These words left former England player Jonathon Trott admitting that if the situation had been reversed, then England would not have done the same. He praised Indian captain Shubman Gill, who has 722 runs in the ongoing series, the most by an Indian on the tour of England and the second highest in the India-England Test.

He said,

"If you're taking the Joe Root out of the side or taking two experienced players like India has had to retire recently, it would be a very, very different scenario. I think India has given a great account of itself. They've kept the series alive, and it's certainly interesting to see the mood in the bus on the England bus when it goes down to London compared to the Indian bus on the way down to London. As we see Shubman Gill here in a league of legends, as it said, and certainly has the opportunity to go to the top of that sort of leaderboard there, and I wouldn't bet against it."

Further, Manjrekar stated that the former Indian captain Rohit Sharma was playing with an average of 10 in the last two test series, while Kohli's average dropped to 30 in the last five years. To which he made a statement stating that India missed the presence of both players, but their contributions were not missed.

He said,

"Rohit Sharma was averaging 10 in the last two series that he played, and Virat Kohli was averaging 30 in the last five years. So they were perhaps not easy to replace, but it wasn't like it was a huge loss. It was a loss of two very senior players, but not a loss of contribution, because they weren't contributing as much."

The fifth Test is all set to commence on July 31 at the Oval, which will decide which team is going to win the series, or it will end in a draw.