Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar opened up about his controversies with India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and pacer Mohammad Shami. Manjrekar has found himself becoming one of the most sought-after commentators post his India career that wound up in 1996.

However, more often than not, Manjrekar has suffered from foot-in-mouth syndrome. One of his biggest controversies was describing Jadeja as a “bits and pieces” cricketer during the 2019 ICC World Cup.

“I am not a big fan of bits and pieces players, which Jadeja is at this point in 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 said on Times of India.

The remark did not sit well with Jadeja, who openly expressed his displeasure. He took to social media and slammed the former cricketer.

“Still, I have played twice the number of matches you have played, and I'm still playing. Learn to respect people who have achieved. I have heard enough of your verbal diarrhea. @sanjaymanjrekar," Jadeja posted on X.

Then, ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, Manjrekar said that he doubts whether Mohammad Shami will get big bids owing to his injury crisis.

“There will definitely be interest from teams, but given Shami's injury history—and this recent one took a significant amount of time to recover—there’s always a concern about a potential breakdown during the season. If a franchise invests heavily and then loses him mid-season, their options become limited. This concern might lead to a drop in his price tag,” Manjrekar said ahead of the auction.

Shami, who was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping INR 10 crore, lashed out at Manjrekar in an Instagram story.

“Baba ki jay hoooooo. Thodasa gyan apne future ke lie bhi bacha loo kaam ayega Sanjay G? Kisi ko future janna ho to sir se mile [Jai to Baba. You should save some knowledge for your future too; it will be useful, Sanjay G? If anyone wants to know about the future, meet Sir," he wrote in an Instagram story.

 Manjrekar considered the controversy that surrounded his comments about Jadeja and Shami, emphasizing that they were mostly misinterpreted. He explained that Shami's response was unclear to him, and Jadeja misunderstood the phrase "bits and pieces."

“I think Jadeja was more misunderstood; from bits and pieces, he thought [it] was like a cringe cricketer. I thought he misunderstood that term, and Shami have no idea. Somebody told me that he reacted, but I have no idea what the reaction was, and that is how I keep it simple, as I said… Yeah, earlier, let’s be honest, I used to get affected by it and try and sort of give my point of view and just try to make things better, but it’s like a tsunami that comes in, and there’s no way you can stop it," Manjrekar said on Stalin Mathias' YouTube channel.

The former cricket player, however, claimed that such "tsunamis" have no effect on him.

"The best thing about these Tsunamis is that these kinds of controversies or reactions, I mean, 48 hours later, they found something else to get upset about,” he added.

Manjrekar continues to commentate and be in broadcasting, while Jadeja and Shami have continued to excel for the Indian team.