Former India cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar found himself in the middle of yet another controversy when a fan leaked his alleged chat with him. In the screenshots shared by the user, Manjrekar is reportedly seen to have taken potshots on India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja’s English.
In one of the messages, the 55-year old allegedly said, “Sad state you are in. Expecting me to worship players like you do… by the way I am not a fan. I am an analyst. And Jadeja doesn’t know English so he did not know the actual meaning of bits and pieces. And surely somebody spelt verbal diarrhoea for him.”
I didn’t want to share this personal chat in public, even though it’s full to shit. But couldn’t help, coz ppl need to know this side of this man. @imjadeja would be proud of what he did to prove you wrong. @BCCI is this the kind of man you would want in your com panel in future? pic.twitter.com/AUjX301Foz
— soorya narayanan (@soorya_214) June 7, 2021
In 2019, Manjrekar had termed Jadeja ‘a bits-pieces cricketer’ who doesn’t fulfil the requirement of a proper player (neither a batsman nor a bowler).
“I am not a big fan of bits and pieces players which Jadeja is at this point of his career in 50-over cricket. In Test matches, he is a pure bowler. But in 50-over cricket, I would rather have a batsman and a spinner,” Manjrekar had said then. Jadeja soon took to Twitter to answer the former India cricketer.
Still i have played twice the number of matches you have played and i m still playing. Learn to respect ppl who have achieved.i have heard enough of your verbal diarrhoea.@sanjaymanjrekar
— Ravindrasinh jadeja (@imjadeja) July 3, 2019
Recently, Manjrekar had said that he has a “few problems” when people call Ravichandran Ashwin “one of the all-time greats of the game” courting yet another controversy that was countered by former Australia captain Ian Chappell.
Ashwin had responded to the observation with a tinge of humour by sharing dialogue from the movie ‘Aparachith’ reading: “Apdi Solladha Da Chaari, Manasellam Valikirdhu.” When translated to English, it means: “Don’t say things like that, it hurts.”
The 55-year-old was dropped by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from the commentary team of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. However, later he was reinstated for the India tour of Australia.
