Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar doesn't consider India off-spinner R Ashwin among all-time greats yet. He faced backlash for his words for Ashwin on social media and Manjrekar had to explain his stance on Ashwin through a tweet.
"When people start talking about him as being one of the all-time greats of the game then I have a few problems. One basic problem I have with Ashwin is that when you look at SENA countries, Ashwin doesn't have a single five-wicket haul there," Manjrekar had said on ESPNCricinfo.
Twitterati were not happy with Manjrekar going against Ashwin and felt he should not take away the credit for important contributions made by the offie in Indian cricket. Also, few fans agreed with the ex-India cricketer after he explained his definition of "all-time great" through a tweet.
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"‘All- time great’ is the highest praise & acknowledgment given to a cricketer. Cricketers like Don Bradman, Sobers, Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Virat etc are all-time greats in my book. With due respect, Ashwin not quite there as an all-time great yet. #AllTimeGreatExplained," he tweeted.
Ashwin has 409 wickets in 78 Tests, and he was also a part of the limited-overs side before getting axed from the white-ball setup after the 2017 Champions Trophy. He picked up 150 wickets in 111 ODIs, and 52 wickets in 46 T20I matches. The off-spinner was also part of India’s 2011 World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy win under MS Dhoni's captaincy.
Here are the reactions of Twitterati to Manjrekar's comment on Ashwin:
