‘Only you, not us’- Sanjay Manjrekar replies weirdly to Harsha Bhogle about visibility of pink balls

The pink ball was the cynosure going into the historic day-night Test between India and Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The match was being played with the pink SG ball and there was analysis regarding how the ball would behave under the lights. The Tigers’ batters didn’t have any experience of playing with the pink cherry and hence were expected to strain a wee bit.

On the other hand, only five of the Indian players didn’t have any prior experience of plying craft with the pink ball, one of whom was skipper Virat Kohli. However, he became India’s maiden Test centurion in the Day-Night Test when he accomplished the feat on the second day. Even Ajinkya Rahane, playing with the pink ball for the first time, turned up with a gutsy half-century.

Bangladesh batsmen getting hit on the helmets with the pink ball

The Bangladesh batsmen, especially their top order seemed a tad clueless and didn’t have much idea about tackling the Indian pace trio of Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma. The latter went on to become the Player of the Match for his five-wicket haul. For the Tigers, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das and Mahmudullah seemed to get the measure of the conditions.

Before the game, it was learned that Liton had troubles in spotting the ball. In the match, he copped a blow on the helmet and was ruled out. Nayeem Hasan also suffered the same fate. Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz came in as their concussion substitutes. Mohammad Mithun and Ebadot Hossain were also hit on the helmets, but they didn’t walk off and kept batting.

Meanwhile, Harsha Bhogle, the renowned commentator, got a little concerned. He said that the players need to be asked about the visibility of the pink ball. Keeping in mind the safety factor, the veteran felt that a “proper post-mortem needs to be done, and players should be asked.”

However, Sanjay Manjrekar, his fellow commentator, didn’t quite agree with him. The former cricketer then reverted in a pretty weird manner, which raised quite a few eyebrows. “Only you need to ask Harsha, not us, who have played a fair bit of game.”

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