Sanjay Manjrekar Says Rohit Sharma’s Test Average Would Be in 30s if Only England Performances Counted

Sanjay Manjrekar Claims Rohit Sharma’s Test Average Would’ve Dipped in England, Says There’s No Comparison with Virat Kohli.

Former India cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has stirred a fresh debate by suggesting that Rohit Sharma’s Test average would have significantly dropped had he played in the upcoming Test series against England. Rohit recently announced his retirement from Test cricket, with Shubman Gill taking over the reins as the new captain in the longest format.

In a video shared on Instagram, Manjrekar drew comparisons between the Test careers of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as both stalwarts move away from red-ball cricket. He highlighted Rohit’s limited success in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) countries and remarked that Rohit’s average would have “dropped into the 30s” if he had played in England this year.

“Virat Kohli has got 12 hundreds in SENA countries. Rohit Sharma — just one, that too at The Oval in 2021. I dare say, had he gone to England, that average would have dropped into the 30s. So, when it comes to red-ball cricket I say, RoKo, stop that,” said Manjrekar.

He further expressed his discomfort with the clubbing of the two players under the popular moniker “RoKo” (Rohit + Kohli), asserting that while it may work in white-ball formats, it’s misleading in the context of Test cricket.

“It stirred up the bee in my bonnet, which has been there for a while. It’s not so much about the statement, but the fact that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli tend to get clubbed together. We even have a term for them — RoKo. I can understand it in white-ball cricket, but when it comes to red-ball cricket, there’s absolutely no comparison between the two,” he added.

Rohit Sharma’s Test Career at a Glance:
Rohit concluded his Test career with 4,301 runs in 67 matches at an average of 40.57 and a strike rate of 57.05. He notched up 12 centuries in Tests — notably, all of them came in matches that India won.

In England, Rohit played 14 innings and amassed 524 runs at an average of 40.30, including one century and two half-centuries. His standout performance came during the 2021-22 series, where he was India’s leading run scorer with 368 runs in four matches at an impressive average of 52.57.

His maiden overseas century — a fluent 127 at The Oval — played a pivotal role in India’s victory in that Test. The five-match series eventually ended in a 2-2 draw after England won the rescheduled final Test at Edgbaston in 2022.