Sanjay Manjrekar explains why he has problem with Ravindra Jadeja kind of cricketers in white-ball cricket

Manjrekar is back in the commentary panel for India’s ongoing tour of Australia.

Former India batsman-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar had an eventful 2020. The BCCI had sacked him from the commentary panel before the India-South Africa ODI series in March this year.

As per reports, Manjrekar's comments on India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja went against him. During the 2019 World Cup in England, he had grabbed the headlines by calling Jadeja a “bits and pieces” cricketer.

Once the Jadeja controversy cooled down, Manjrekar got involved in an on-air spat with Harsha Bhogle during India’s first ever Day-Night Test against Bangladesh in November last year.

After issuing an apology to the Indian board, Manjrekar is now back in the commentary box for India’s ongoing tour of Australia.

In an exclusive chat with The Hindu, Sanjay Manjrekar on Saturday (November 28) revealed it's not the first time that he was axed from the commentary panel.

"Not many people know that I have been removed twice before as well. It was for something that I had tweeted. It is not easy, of course, but in many ways, I have become thick-skinned about such things," he said."I will hold myself responsible for, in all my twenty years of commentary, is the Harsha Bhogle incident, where I allowed him to get under my skin and said something that was not in good taste."

The 55-year-old also clarified that he has no problem with Jadeja but has a problem with players like him.

"I do not have a problem with Jadeja; I have a problem with his kind of cricketers in white-ball cricket. Even Hardik Pandya will not be in my team. They add illusionary value to the team. Of course, I have always rated Jadeja highly in the Test format," he added.

Manjrekar admitted that he erred in calling the game last year and paid the price.

"When you play cricket, you know what a good year is because you have statistics to endorse that. But commentary is not like that; it is about how your analysis is or how your predictions fare. Last year, the problem was that the moment I said something would happen, the opposite of that would take place. I equate that with having a bad run. However, my thought process has been the same ever since I started out as a commentator," he remarked.