Sanjay Manjrekar back to commentary panel for India tour of Australia

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar is set to return to the commentary panel for India’s tour of Australia, starting November 27. The veteran was dropped by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from the commentary team of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

Manjrekar had stated that he would be ‘happy to apologise’ and that the sacking had ‘shaken my confidence’ and was a ‘big jolt.’ In this communication accessed, Manjrekar noted that he was told by a BCCI official on phone that he was sacked because ‘some players had an issue with me as a commentator.’

It has been speculated that Manjrekar was removed from the panel as a result of his comment calling Ravindra Jadeja a “bits-and-pieces player” during last year’s ODI World Cup and the subsequent reactions from fans and the player himself were an important trigger in him losing his job.

On July 3 last year, Jadeja had tweeted his ire at Manjrekar’s comments: “Still, I have played twice the number of matches you have played and I am still playing. Learn to respect ppl who have achieved. I have heard enough of your verbal diarrhea @Sanjaymanjrekar”.

After his half-century in the World Cup semi-final



against New Zealand, Jadeja had gesticulated angrily towards the commentary studio. The official Twitter handle of the ICC posted a video of a post-match discussion involving Manjrekar. “By bits and by pieces, he just ripped me apart today. Bits of pieces of sheer brilliance, he proved me all wrong,” he had said that day.

However, in the 22-man commentary panel for India’s full-fledged tour, Sony Pictures Sports Network (SPSN), on Thursday, included his name.

List of commentators:

English & Hindi: Ajit Agarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Harsha Bhogle, Murali Kartik, Ajay Jadeja

Hindi: Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Vijay Dahiya, Vivek Razdan, Zaheer Khan

English: Glenn McGrath and Nick Knight

Telugu: RJ Hemant, Vijay Mahavadi, Gnaneshwar Rao, C Venkatesh, Illendula Ramprasad

Tamil: T Arasu, Sheshadri Srinivasan, Vidhyut Sivaramakrishna, R Sathish, Naveen Shaur

India’s campaign starts on Friday with the ODI series followed by the T20I series. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is scheduled to get underway on December 17. The Indian players are currently in Sydney quarantining and training after the IPL ended in Dubai.