Sanjay Manjrekar omitted in seven-member commentary panel for IPL 2020

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided on the names of seven Indian commentators who will be a part of the commentary panel in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League, which is slated to begin from September 19, with the final to take place on November 10 across three venues namely Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah.

The seven commentators who have been picked include the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, L Sivaramakrishnan, Murali Kartik, Deep Dasgupta, Rohan Gavaskar, Harsha Bhogle, and Anjum Chopra. One notable omission from this list is the former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar. Notably, Manjrekar has been a part of the commentary panel since the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League that took place in 2008.

BCCI is not in a mood to rehire Sanjay. He was sensationally sacked by the Indian board in March 2020 just before the three-match ODI series against South Africa, which was supposed to begin but the series was later called off in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It was speculated that the former right-handed batsman had a fall out with BCCI after being involved in a verbal battle with Ravindra Jadeja as he called him a ‘bits and pieces’ cricketer on social media before India’s exit from the World Cup last year.

Though Manjrekar had written an email to BCCI a month ago asking them to reinstate him as the commentator for the 2020 edition of the cash-rich league, it looks like the Board is not keen on taking him back.

Commentators to be divided into three slots

According to a report published in Mumbai Mirror, BCCI is planning to divide the group of seven commentators into three panels, one for each of the three venues. Also, they will be placed in two biosecure bubbles, one in Abu Dhabi and one in Dubai.

Deep Dasgupta and Kartik have been selected for Abu Dhabi matches and were expected to fly for UAE on September 4 but the UAE government has provided relaxation in the quarantine rules from 14 days to 7 days. Therefore, the two will also board the flight along with five others on September 10.

It is speculated that Dubai and Abu Dhabi will host 21 matches each while Sharjah will be hosting 14 games of this year’s edition of the Indian T20 league. Also, the venues for the playoffs is yet to be decided.