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The highly-anticipated India tour of England kickstarted at Headingley in Leeds on Friday, June 20 with the first Test. With the Men in Blue hoping to end their 18-year wait to win a series on the English soil, kickstarted with a bang as Yashasvi Jaiswal (101) and skipper Shubman Gill (127*), both smashed centuries on the opening day of the first Test.
After being put to bat first by the English side, Jaiswal and KL Rahul stitched 91-run stand for the opening wicket. The duo smashed the English bowlers all around the park, but the latter fell to Brydon Carse’s delivery with Joe Root completing a comfortable catch at slips.
Sanjay Manjrekar’s on-air remarks leaves social media buzzing; goes viral
However, KL Rahul’s 42-run innings saw him play some sensational cover drives, he was also seen leaving wide off-stump deliveries, balls which has seen Virat Kohli struggle with a lot in the recent past. Apart from this, what caught the attention was KL Rahul leaving such balls on day one which left former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar taking a sly dig at the former Test cricketer Kohli.
Speaking on air, Manjrekar remarked, "Potentially wicket-taking, outside the off-stump full and they have been left alone. Jaiswal has done that, anything that has pitched right up onto the stumps is driven and anything that has pitched wide is not disturbed. We know a former batter who would have gone after it and got himself into trouble but not these two (Rahul and Jaiswal)."
Watch Sanjay Manjrekar take sly dig here:
This statement from the former India cricketer sparked online outrage. What is noteworthy is that Manjrekar did not mention Virat Kohli’s name, but his statement implied to “a former better”, which has been Kohli, seeing him get out on deliveries on the fifth and sixth stump line during India’s tour of Australia for the BGT 2024-25.
Recalling the opening day of the first Test between England and India, the Men in Blue walked out strong dominating the day as they posted 359/3 in 85 overs. While Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a ton (101), skipper Shubman Gill also converted his fifty to a hundred. The Indian skipper (127*) is currently joined by his deputy, Rishabh Pant, who is batting at 65*.
