Sanjay Manjrekar's 3 most controversial statements ft. Virat Kohli

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar celebrated his 58th birthday on Wednesday, July 12. The ex-Indian middle-order batter has been a renowned cricket pundit for some time now and is known to have a good eye for the game.

Manjrekar played 37 Tests and 74 ODIs for India. He scored a total of 4,037 international runs, including 24 half-centuries and five hundreds.

As far as his broadcasting career is concerned, Manjrekar is one of the most sought-after analysts but often shares a love-and-hate relationship with players and viewers. He is known as someone who speaks his mind in a blunt manner.

🏏 2043 runs in Tests
🔥 1994 runs in ODI
💯 5 International hundreds

Happy birthday to one of the finest players and commentator, Sanjay Manjrekar 🎂 https://t.co/0qRbVTzh2b

Manjrekar is one of those Indian TV cricket analysts who has had his share of controversies. There have been many instances where his thoughts and opinions have not gone down well with either the players or fans.

On the occasion of his 58th birthday, let's take a look at three of Sanjay Manjrekar's most controversial statements.

#1 His 'bits and pieces' comment about Ravindra Jadeja

India v New Zealand - ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Semi-Final [Getty Images]

Sanjay Manjrekar stirred a major controversy and came under fire for his remarks on Ravindra Jadeja during the ICC Men's World Cup 2019. During the mega event in England, Manjrekar tagged Jadeja as a 'bits and pieces' player. In an interview with IANS, the former batter 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."

The comments did not go down well with the all-rounder, who took to Twitter to lash out at the Indian commentator in strong words. Jadeja wrote:

"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, after Jadeja’s fabulous 77 in the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, Sanjay Manjrekar admitted that the all-rounder had proved him wrong.

#2 "Give Kohli one more Test.. he doesn't belong here"

England v India: Specsavers 1st Test - Day Two

This was a case of an old tweet being dug out and seen without the context in which it had been made.

During India's tour of Australia in 2011-12, Virat Kohli failed to get a substantial score in the first two Tests. Kohli, at the time, was the latest batsman that India were using to fill the no.6 slot in the batting line-up, which had fallen vacant by Sourav Ganguly's retirement in 2008.

Many batsman, such as Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, and Cheteshwar Pujara, had been tried at that slot but had failed to cement their place in the team. With the Indian team looking listless in that series and Kohli failing to produce results in the first two Tests, many people were ready to declare the Delhi batter as a failure too.

The fact that Kohli had failed in his debut series in West Indies in 2011, consisting of three Tests, and struggled against short-pitched bowling was also on fans and experts' minds.

It was in that context that Sanjay Manjrekar put out this tweet:

I would still drop VVS & get rohit in for next test.Makes long term sense. give virat 1 more test..just to be sure he does not belong here.

However, in 2019, a Twitter account retweeted this post without knowing, or presenting, the context in which it was made. Since Manjrekar is often a punching bag for some fans, it was picked up and used for trying to embarrass him.

However, Manjrekar pointed out how there was a cacophony of voices at the time calling for Kohli's head and he wanted to give the prodigy another chance. The player-turned-analyst even stated that he was 'proud' of this tweet.

However, many saw it as another indictment of what they think are Manjrekar's faults as an analyst.

#3 "Pollard does not have the brains to play early in the innings"

Another Manjrekar statement which didn't go down well with a player came during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017.

In one of the games between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2017, Kieron Pollard was sent up the order to bat. Manjrekar, who was in the commentary box at that moment, felt that Pollard is not perhaps capable to bat up the order.

Manjrekar, on air, said, "Pollard does not have the brains to play early in the innings."

Annoyed with the on-air comments, Kieron Pollard decided to directly address Manjrekar as he responded via the social media platform Twitter. Pollard had thought that the Indian ex-cricketer called him “brainless” on air.

Said " Does he have the range? " Using terms like 'no brains' or 'brainless' not my style. I can be critical but never insulting.

He tagged the Indian cricketer-turned-commentator in his first tweet, blasting him for his "negativity" and "verbal diarrhoea."

"@sanjaymanjrekar u feel any positive can come out of your mouth bcuz u get pay to talk u can continue with your verbal diarrhea (sic),” Pollard tweeted.

A few days later, Manjrekar replied to the criticism he garnered from Pollard and clarified that, unlike what the West Indian thought, he never called him “brainless."

"Said ‘Does he have the range (to bat higher up the order)?’ Using terms like ‘no brains’ or ‘brainless’ not my style. I can be critical but never insulting."

Despite all the misunderstandings and controversies, Manjrekar still remains one of the rare voices in the Indian broadcasting circuit who is unbiased and clinical with his analysis.