Legendary West Indian fast bowler Curtly Ambrose has reacted to the former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar's comments on R Ashwin on social media.
Recently, Manjrekar said he does not consider India’s premier spinner Ashwin to be an all-time great which left the fans and several cricketers disappointed and criticized the commentator for his derogatory comments on the veteran off-spinner on social media.
Speaking to sports presenter Karishma Kotak on 'The Curtly and Karishma Show' on YouTube, the West Indies legend said everyone has different opinions on certain people and have a different way to look at greatness, but according to him, it should be considered taking into account one’s whole growth.
Read Also: Twitterati react after Sanjay Manjrekar refuses to give "all-time great" tag to R Ashwin
Ambrose said, “We all have our different opinions. We all look at greatness in different ways. Sanjay Manjrekar was a wonderful cricketer in his time. He has his opinion of that, we all have our views. But, how do you define greatness? That is a good question.
Because sometimes, to be quite fair, we use the word greatness loosely. So, we have to be careful with how we define greatness. According to me, greatness is when a player can be very consistent over a period of time, for years, not one or two years.”
The former pacer also opined that the overall growth of a player since he first made an appearance for his country should be considered to see whether he is great in the game of cricket.
Notably, Ashwin is in his 11th year as an international cricketer and has so far taken 409 wickets – which makes him India's fourth-highest wicket-taker in Tests and one of India's best bowlers of all time. He also has the most five-wicket-hauls (30) by an India bowler in Tests after the great Anil Kumble (35).
Ambrose signed off by saying, “Some guys can come into international cricket and for two or three years, set the world on fire. And, for the next six to seven years, they do nothing. You cannot really judge on the first two or three years. It is over a period of time, through a whole career. At the end of your career, you can be judged if you were great or good or average.”
