Former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar is set to be reinstated in the commentary team for India’s tour of Australia, starting November 27.
Manjrekar was axed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from the commentary panel earlier this year.
According to a report in The Indian Express, Manjrekar had stated that he would be ‘happy to apologise’ and that the sacking had ‘shaken his confidence’.
In this communication accessed by the same newspaper, Manjrekar noted that he was told by a BCCI official on phone that he was sacked because some players had an issue with him as a commentator.
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.
Reacting to his comments, Jadeja posted a tweet, asking Manjrekar to respect the achievement of people.
However, in the 22-man commentary panel for India’s tour Down Under, Sony Pictures Sports Network (SPSN) included his name.
List of commentators:
English & Hindi: Ajit Agarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Harsha Bhogle, Murali Kartik, Ajay Jadeja
Hindi: Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Vijay Dahiya, Vivek Razdan, Zaheer Khan
English: Glenn McGrath and Nick Knight
Telugu: RJ Hemant, Vijay Mahavadi, Gnaneshwar Rao, C Venkatesh, Illendula Ramprasad
Tamil: T Arasu, Sheshadri Srinivasan, Vidhyut Sivaramakrishna, R Sathish, Naveen Shaur
Team India will face Australia in three ODIs, three T20Is and four Tests during the tour Down Under.
The three ODIs will be played from November 27 to December 2, while the T20I series will be held from December 4 to December 8.
The battle for the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy will kick-start with the pink-ball affair at the Adelaide Oval on December 17. Melbourne will host the second Test from December 26 while the third and fourth Tests will be played in Sydney Cricket Ground (January 7-11) and Brisbane's Gabba (January 15-19), respectively.
