3 Reasons why Sanjay Manjrekar was axed by BCCI

All international cricket and most of the other leagues barring the Pakistan Super League (PSL) are called off or cancelled. And has been a huge talking point. But there has been another significant talking amidst this COVID-19 issue.

Reports say that former India cricketer and Sanjay Manjrekar was ousted from the commentary panel by the BCCI. The reports suggest that the 54-year-old Mumbaikar wasn’t on the commentary panel for the India-South Africa series and he may not be included for the 2020 season of the IPL as well. A source revealed that the BCCI was not happy with his work.

Social media went berserk after the news broke out. Over the last couple of years, he has received a lot of flak from the fans. However, people deem his ouster may have been due to political reasons as well. Manjrekar was very vocal about CAA and also expressed his support for JNU. The cricketer turned commentator had given his thumbs up to Mumbai who protested and were standing with JNU.

Well done Mumbai! https://t.co/IpVWhpd3A9

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) January 7, 2020

However, there might be a few other reasons. Thus, here are three reasons why Manjrekar faced the axe.

1. The ‘bits and pieces cricketer’ comment

During the 2019 World Cup, Ravindra Jadeja played just one league game and that was against Sri Lanka. He returned with figures of 1/40. But before that, Sanjay Manjrekar who was on the World Cup commentary panel said that he is not a fan of a ‘bits and pieces cricketer’ like Ravindra Jadeja.

It didn’t go down well with the Saurashtra all-rounder who took to Twitter to express his displeasure. Jadeja was agitated and said that he had enough of Manjrekar’s ‘verbal diarrhoea’. Jadeja was the standout player in the semi-final for India. Be it in the field, with the ball or with the bat, the left-handed all-rounder was simply brilliant.

Still i have played twice the number of matches you have played and i m still playing. Learn to respect ppl who have achieved.i have heard enough of your verbal diarrhoea.@sanjaymanjrekar

— Ravindrasinh jadeja (@imjadeja) July 3, 2019

In fact, after Jadeja’s fifty, he was seen gesturing to Manjrekar in the commentary box as well. Former England skipper Michael Vaughan tried trolling the Indian commentator during the semi-final but ended up being blocked by Manjrekar.

Hence, this situation blew up quite a bit and Manjrekar received a lot of flak for this. However, he did admit in the post-show after the semi-final that ‘By bits ‘n’ pieces of sheer brilliance, he’s [Jadeja] ripped me apart on all fronts.’