Former India batsman and current cricket commentator Sanjay Manjrekar on Sunday was involved in a minor verbal spat with co-commentator Harsha Bhogle during the broadcast of the India vs Bangladesh day-night Test.
The pink ball being used in this match is a first for international cricket in the country and Harsha, on commentary, spoke about if it had been clearly visible to the players during the match. He added that there may be a need to do a proper post-mortem after the pink ball Test, where the players could be asked whether there were problems regarding visibility since the match was played under lights for the second half of the day.
To this, Manjrekar responded with "only you need to ask, Harsha, not us, who have played a fair bit of the game."
The hashtag #SanjayManjrekar trended on Twitter after Manjrekar seemed to suggest that he knew better about cricket than Bhogle since he had played the game.
Cricket fans, however, came out in support of Bhogle.
One fan criticised Manjrekar: "Low blow from @sanjaymanjrekar there".
Another post read: "Imagine insulting or even making fun of one of the finest analysts of the game in that manner. You deserve to be expelled from the commentary box. Absolute disgrace. #SanjayManjrekar".
A Bhogle fan commented: "Sanjay Manjrekar questioning Harsha Bhogle's cricketing expertise is blasphemy. #INDvBAN."
More was in store for Manjrekar, as another user wrote: "@sanjaymanjrekar I think that was a very cheap shot saying to @bhogleharsha 'For those of us who played the game'."
Full Transcript of Harsha and Sanjay’s Chat
Sanjay: There have been at least 3 or 4 instances of batsmen getting hit on the helmet per innings.
Harsha: When there is a post-mortem done on this game and there should be a post mortem on this game. Visibility of that ball will be a big factor against the white sight-screen.
Sanjay: Don't think so. Because when you see the slip catchers the way they have taken catches, I don't think visibility is an issue at all. The texture of the ball is the issue.
Harsha: Definitely ask batsmen on both sides not just Indian cricket—
Sanjay: You think Virat Kohli wasn’t seeing the ball properly?
Harsha: Or Ajinkya Rahane or Cheteshwar Pujara and ask all of them, just ask the what do you think. If Pink ball cricket is going to be a regular feature, you should just want to be sure that everything is running-
Sanjay: I think you can see from the outside if the batsman is seeing the ball properly or not
Harsha: Well, it doesn’t cost anything to ask. It is always good to know everything around-
Sanjay: Might as well ask everything right? Say nothing here and ask the players everything.
Harsha: Well, I was doing a post-mortem and ask everything because I want to know everything about the pink ball game, see if it is working, why so many batsmen are getting hit-
Sanjay: You need to ask Harsha, for us who have played the game, we get a fair idea of what’s happening out there.
*batsman hits a four*
Sanjay: I really think watching two and a half days three days of cricket, I don’t think that visibility is an issue. We have seen some terrific catches taken on the slips, on the boundaries as well. I think the big issue, you can see the way the ball comes on to the bat. Ball-to-bat and then the ball just flies off the blade and it’s gone for four, and I say this with some authority because 10-15 years of First Class Cricket, this is what we did. A ball very similar in texture to this one.
Harsha: There is a reason I’d ask everyone Sanjay because when you’ve played the game, you get a good idea of what the conditions are, but it cannot be a limitation to learning. There has to be an age to learning. If you only asked players, you never would have gotten T20 Cricket, you never would have gotten day/night cricket. So sometimes it is just best to ask everybody what they think and then justify your hypothesis rather than just ruling it out before asking, that is the only point that I am making.
Sanjay: Point taken but don't agree.
Harsha: Well, that is the way it should be then. Agree to disagree.
Sanjay: Absolutely.
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