28 July 2025 : Regardless of the result in the series decider at The Oval, this England tour has been a revelation for Shubman Gill the batter. He led India’s batting charge twice—first in the Birmingham win, then in the Manchester draw that kept the series alive. Gill’s masterclass across the series prompted former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar to drop a truth bomb: India may have missed Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s presence, but not their contributions.
Speaking on JioStar after India drew the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Manjrekar hailed how India have managed to put England on the back foot despite the injuries that hit the camp ahead of the game and the retirements of three legends – Kohli, Rohit and R Ashwin.
The words left former England batter Jonathan Trott admitting that had the scenario been reversed, England would not have managed to pull off the same. He, hence, hailed Gill, who now has 722 runs already in the series, the most ever by an Indian player on the tour of England, and the second-highest tally in an India-England Test, standing just 16 runs behind Joe Root’s 737-run tally in the 2021 series.
“If you’re taking the Joe Root out of the side or taking two experienced players like India have had to retire recently, it would be a very, very different scenario. I think India have given a great account of themselves. 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,” he said.
The anchor, however, pointed out that the situation was slightly different for India, leading to Manjrekar highlighting that Rohit was averaging around 10 in the last two Test series, while Kohli’s average dipped to 30 in the last five years. He, hence, reckoned that while India missed the presence of the two batting legends, their contributions were not missed.
“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,” he explained.
India have one last match left in the series, the finale at The Oval, which will get underway on Thursday.
Summary:
Sanjay Manjrekar argues India managed without Kohli and Rohit’s performances, praising Shubman Gill’s Manchester century masterclass as proof of effective run-making without legends.