Virat Kohli pushed ’India in a tight corner’ in the T20 World Cup final, didn’t deserve POTM: Sanjay Manjrekar

Days after Indian Men's cricket team lifted the T20 World Cup 2024 and Virat Kohli was named the 'Player of the Match', Sanjay Manjrekar questioned the choice of the award.

In a post-match show at ESPNCricinfo, the former Indian cricketer said that Kohli's innings, where he scored 76 runs off 59 balls, would have placed India in "a tight corner". He added that his choice for the award would have been an Indian bowler.

Manjrekar said that due to Kohli's innings, Hardik Pandya got only two balls to play.

"So I thought India's batting was good, but Virat Kohli had potentially played an innings that would've put India in a tight corner," he said.

"And it almost proved to be that, before these guys' bowlers came in the end," Manjrekar added.

He also said that Kohli played half of his innings "virtually" with a strike-rate of 128.

"My Player of the Match would've been a bowler because they actually took the game from the jaws of defeat and won it for India," Manjrekar said.

However, Andy Flower of Zimbabwe disagreed. He said that 176 was a big enough total.

"If India had been pipped there, there would've been a lot of criticism going Virat Kohli's way, I'd reckon," he said.

On Saturday in Barbados, India won the T20 World Cup defeating South Africa in a thriller. It is India's first ICC trophy since ODI World Cup win in 2011 and first T20 WC win since 2007. After the match, Kohli was awarded the best player and Jasprit Bumrah was awarded the prize of the 'Player of the Tournament'.

After the match, Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirement from T20 internationals. Rahul Dravid, who was Indian team's coach, also retired from his job. A day later, on Sunday, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja also hung up his boots in the T20 international format.