Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar who has been at the helm of several controversies have been dropped from the commentary panel of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), reported The Mumbai Mirror. Manjrekar who was missing in the first one-day internationals between India and South Africa in Dharmasala is likely to be left out of the coveted Indian Premier League (IPL).
While there is not much clarity about the reasons that provoked such a decision on the part of India’s apex cricket body, a BCCI source said that they were not happy with his work. The source further added, “Maybe he will be left out from the IPL panel too. At this stage, it is not on top of our minds.”
Sanjay Manjrekar has drawn negative publicity in recent times. He was slammed by all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja in July 2019 after he called him “bits and pieces cricketer.” Jadeja took to Twitter to inform the 54-year-old commentator that he had already played twice the number of matches and urged him to stop his “verbal diarrhoea.”
In a bid to pacify the situation following a brilliant performance by Jadeja, Sanjay Manjrekar said, “By bits ‘n’ pieces of sheer brilliance, he’s ripped me apart on all fronts.”
Manjrekar had also blocked former England captain Michael Vaughan on Twitter for trolling him.
During the historic pink-ball Test played between Bangladesh and India in Kolkata, Manjrekar questioned the credentials of Harsha Bhogle following an argument. He said, ” You need to ask the players about visibility perhaps, but for us, those who have played the game (given that Harsha Bhogle had not played any first-class match), we have a fair idea of what’s happening out there.”
He later regretted, ” Of course. It was wrong and I say that because it was unprofessional and the first thing that I did was I had apologized to the producer that I was working for that it was wrong.”
A petition with 545 signatures was earlier filed on Change.org urging the International Cricket Council to ban Manjrekar from the commentary box during the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.
The story of Manjrekar’s sacking comes to light at a time when the series between India and South Africa had been called off in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The much anticipated Indian Premier League that was scheduled to start from March 29 had also been postponed till April 15.
