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IPL 2017: Sanjay Manjrekar clarifies his 'brainless' comment on Kieron Pollard

Manjrekar claimed that Pollard had taken his comments out of context

What’s the story?

Former Indian batsman and noted commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has clarified his controversial remarks on Mumbai Indians all-rounder Kieron Pollard. In his Twitter account, the 51-year-old insisted that he did not use the term ‘no brains’ or ‘brainless’ and only enquired if the Trinidadian had the ‘range’ to adjust his game to a different type of situation. 

Urging all those who have been mocking him to watch the footage again and review his statements, he also posted a video from the official Indian Premier League (IPL) website containing the discussion under scrutiny.

The Background

During an IPL game between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders, Manjrekar had raised doubts over Pollard’s ability to come in during the early stages of the innings by declaring that his style of batting might not suit such a situation. However, the hard-hitting batsman took offense to those comments and posted a series of angry tweets on the commentator’s supposed ‘verbal diarrhea‘.  

The heart of the matter

In the video posted on IPL’s official Twitter account, the sequence of events was pretty clear. Kevin Pietersen began the conversation by asking Manjrekar whether Pollard could come in earlier in the innings and be given a few overs to settle down before taking on the opposition bowlers.

Affirming that the comparison was quite similar to that of Indian wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni who has preferred to bat down the order, Manjrekar felt that Pollard was the type of batsman who should enter the arena when 'six-seven overs' were left. He only wondered if the Caribbean batsman had the ‘versatility’ to rotate the strike or the ‘range’ to tackle the situation once the boundaries began to dry up. 

What’s next?

Manjrekar’s comments might just have spurred Pollard to rise to the occasion. In the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, he came in with the scoreboard reading 7/4 in the third over and turned the game around with a sensible knock of 70 from 47 balls. Mumbai Indians’ next game will be against Gujarat Lions at home on Sunday evening.

Author’s Take

After looking at the evidence, it is clear that Manjrekar’s comments have been blown out of proportion. Not once did he use the term ‘no brains’ or ‘brainless’ to trigger a needless controversy.

Tweet Speak

Harsha Bhogle and Aakash Chopra jumped to Manjrekar’s support over the Pollard comments.

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