BCCI Drops Sanjay Manjrekar From Commentary Panel, May Not Be Included In IPL

Manjrekar was not present in Dharamsala during the first ODI between India and South Africa, which was washed out without a ball being bowled on Thursday, reported Mumbai Mirror

Sanjay Manjrekar

New Delhi: Former Indian Test cricketer and seasoned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has been dropped from the BCCI’s panel of commentators, according to a report in Mumbai Mirror. A seasoned cricket expert and commentator in the commentary box for India’s home and international cricket fixtures, Manjrekar is likely to be left out of the panel for the upcoming IPL season, which has now been postponed and set to commence on April 15 instead of the initially scheduled March 29 due to the coronavirus scare. Manjrekar was not present in Dharamsala during the first ODI between India and South Africa, which was washed out without a ball being bowled on Thursday. Other BCCI panel commentators Sunil Gavaskar, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, and Murali Kartik were, however, present at the venue, reported the Mumbai Mirror. It all had started during the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019 when Sanjay Manjrekar had described Ravindra Jadeja as a bits and pieces cricketer and after his heroic knock in the semi finals, not only Jadeja, several other Indian cricketers were also unhappy with Manjrekar's comment. Later, during commentary of an international match the former Indian cricketer had teased Harsha Bhogle by saying that he didn't play enough cricket to comment on a specific issue. During the Pink ball Test match in Kolkata , Sanjay Manjrekar had said that his experience counts more than Harsha Bhogle when it comes to judge the visibility of Pink ball. This episode erupted controversy and the colleagues of Sanjay at the commentary box wasn't happy with his comment . A source said , BCCI took these episodes seriously and finally have dropped Sanjay Manjrekar from the commentary Panel and as a result he wasn't a part of the panel in Dharmashala during India's first ODI against SA , which was washed out .