Sanjay Manjrekar has been removed from BCCI commentary panel.
Manjrekar, who played 37 Tests and 74 ODIs in his India career which spanned from 1987-1996 and made a total of 4,037 international runs with 5 centuries to his name, had been a regular feature in the media box in India matches at home. However, reports suggested that BCCI was not happy with his work behind the mic and might even remove him from IPL 2020 panel as well.
"Sir Jadeja effect!" Twitterverse reacts to Sanjay Manjrekar's exclusion from BCCI commentary panel
Manjrekar was often criticized on social media for his insipid and sometimes biased commentary on the air. His many controversies included having a heated on-air argument with fellow commentator Harsha Bhogle during the historic India-Bangladesh day-night Test in Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
As per Harsha, to get a better idea of whether the ball is clearly visible or not, players’ viewpoint needed to be taken into consideration. However, Manjrekar had arrogantly suggested there was no issue with the visibility of the ball and he knows it because he has played international cricket, unlike Bhogle.
However, a bigger controversy had erupted when Manjrekar had called Ravindra Jadeja a ‘bits and pieces cricketer’ during the ICC World Cup 2019, which had led to the all-rounder asking the commentator to stop his verbal diarrhea.
Well, now even the IPL franchise for which Ravindra Jadeja plays for, the three-time champions Chennai Super Kings couldn’t stop themselves from taking a dig at Manjrekar and tweeted, “Need not hear the audio feed in bits and pieces anymore. ????????.”
Sanjay Manjrekar had later apologized to Bhogle over his remarks, while admitted that Jadeja proved him wrong after his brilliant knock in the semi-finals against New Zealand.