Sanjay Manjrekar blocks Michael Vaughan on Twitter following his jibe over Jadeja

Sanjay Manjrekar has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. He received a lot of flak following his “bits and pieces” comment on Ravindra Jadeja. In what can be called an utterly disgraceful and childish behaviour, the former India cricketer-turned TV pundit has reportedly blocked former England captain Michael Vaughan on Twitter following his jibes over Jadeja.

Michael Vaughan in a classic English fashion took shots at Manjrekar for his “bits and pieces” comment on India cricketer Ravindra Jadeja. During the semifinal contest between India and New Zealand, Vaughan had posted a series of tweets, essentially mocking Manjrekar.

Possibly frustrated and not able to make a comeback, Sanjar Manjrekar blocked Vaughan, displaying sheer immaturity on his part. The former England captain didn’t stop there. He posted the following tweets asking Manjrekar to unblock him, however, his typical English humour was still visible underneath his tweets. 

If you didn’t know, the former India and England internationals have been taking jibes at each other for quite some time now. The ‘banter’ on Twitter had started following Manjrekar’s distasteful comment on Ravindra Jadeja.

Manjrekar had said, “I am not a big fan of bits and pieces players which Jadeja is at this point of his career in 50-over cricket. In Test matches, he is a pure bowler. But in 50-over cricket, I would rather have a batsman and a spinner.”

But Ravindra Jadeja did not take this lying down. He slammed Sanjay Manjrekar for his negative thoughts and tweeted, “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“

However, Manjrekar called the India all-rounder a ‘street-smart’ cricketer after the latter put up an impressive performance against Sri Lanka. Later in a move that surprised many, Manjrekar went on to pick Jadeja in his predicted XI for the semifinal between India and New Zealand. 

Vaughan did not let go off the chance to take on Manjrekar and trolled him over his change of stance over Jadeja. He replied to Manjrekar’s tweet and said, “I see you have picked that bits and pieces cricketer!!!”

Replying to Michael Vaughan’s tweet, Manjrekar said, “‘Predicted’ my dear Vaughan…not ‘my’ team.” Though later, Manjrekar dropped Jadeja from his squad and justified his action.

Not just cricketers, even people from other walks of life have slammed Manjrekar for his commentary. Recently, Bollywood actor Siddharth slammed him for his biased commentary in the ongoing World Cup. The actor accused Manjrekar of favouring a few cricketers while choosing to mock other players for no reason.

https://twitter.com/Actor_Siddharth/status/1148091253579370497

TV commentators are expected to be unbiased in their commentary, and when you assume the role of a cricketing pundit, there has to be a certain class and maturity and sadly, that has exactly been missing from Manjrekar lately. His commentary seems hollow, lacking any depth in his analysis. It is also surprising how ICC has chosen Manjrekar in its official commentary panel for the World Cup. 

You don’t just have to listen to his commentary to know about his pathetic attitude. You can have a look at his records as a cricketer and you’ll see that he hasn’t achieved anything great in his career. He only played 37 tests and 74 ODIs in which he scored 2043 and 1994 runs respectively. He scored a total of 4 centuries and 9 half-centuries in tests and 1 century and 15 half-centuries in ODIs, however, he was never known for making match-winning knocks. Most of the fans are also of the opinion that Sanjay made his debut, just because his father Vijay Manjrekar and his great grand uncle Dattaram Hindlekar were famous Test players.  He bid goodbye to international cricket in 1996, and since then he has been making commentaries on international cricket.

Sanjay Manjrekar should probably take lessons from his fellow Indian colleagues such as Sourav Ganguly and Harsha Bhogle on how to conduct himself off the pitch and earn respect from all.