There was a news item that was published recently about Sanjay Manjrekar and him wanting to be back into the commentary team for the IPL. If we can remember, Manjrekar was removed from the BCCI commentary team in the month of March. There were lot of comments that he aired during his stint as a commentator. All of those comments seems to have rubbed the recipient the wrong way. Probably some of the comments were tasteless. Does he as a commentator has a right to pass such comments and that too on-air? Let us analyse.
What were some of those comments?
During the 2019 World Cup, Manjrekar called Ravindra Jadeja a bits and pieces cricketer. This led to a lot of public outcry over his comments. Jadeja did not hold back either. He went onto comment that he has played twice the number of games that Manjrekar has played.
Manjrekar also criticised Kieron Pollard. He went onto comment that Pollard does not have the brains to play early in the innings.
Another episode of Manjrekar was against his fellow commentator Harsha Bhogle. He seems to have hinted that because of Bhogle’s lack of international experience, Bhogle’s comments may not have much value. Manjrekar did apologise to the producers and to Bhogle immediately.
Comment about Harsha Bhogle
The last one is definitely not in good taste. Harsha Bhogle may not have played international cricket but he definitely is one whose comments are much respected throughout the cricketing world. Bhogle has proved that he is more than an efficient commentator and can easily hold his own against commentators of the calibre of Ian Chappell, Nasser Hussain, Gavaskar, Atherton, David Lloyd, Warne, Holding to mention a few. Anyone who has heard Bhogle, will vouch for the standard of English, the articulation, the clarity of thought and the spontaneous flow. He also has a decent insight into the game. This is a gift not everyone from a non-English speaking country has. Among the Indian commentators, Harsha is behind only the unassailable Sunil Gavaskar.
Kieron Pollard
I don’t even want to talk about Pollard. He is extremely lucky to be playing even in IPL. I struggle to recall even a single innings of his that made a difference. Hence, I will skip writing about Pollard.
Ravindra Jadeja
Coming to the Ravindra Jadeja, where Manjrekar called him a bits and pieces cricketer, I do not think that the comments were off the mark. The only thing that Manjrekar should have done is that he should have used better words to convey his impression about the player.
Jadeja’s role in the team
In the case of Jadeja, he has played 49 tests, 49 T20s and more than 150 ODIs. This is high enough games to form an opinion about a player. First of all, lets decide what type of cricketer Jadeja is. I would prefer to think of Jadeja as a bowler because his batting statistics is not that flattering. He is averaging a modest 35 with the bat helped by 17 not-outs in Test Cricket. In ODIs, around 32 with a strike rate of 86. His batting has improved over the recent months but that does mean he can be considered a batsman.
With his bowling, he has performed way better. He averages around 24 and has taken more than 210 wickets in 49 tests. It is an impressive 4 wickets per test. However, when this is further drilled down, the end result is somewhat disappointing. More than 80% of his wickets were in India in about 31 tests. His overseas performance is not something that will make someone to take note off. I agree that he has played less number of games and he was never considered automatic when India plays outside the subcontinent. Having said that, even in the limited opportunities, if we have to analyse whether he created any impact in those opportunities, the answer is negative.
Jadeja’s Impact
In couple of series in New Zealand, spread across 4 years, he didn’t make any impact in 2014 and in the last series he took a couple of wickets which had a decent impact but didn’t do much with the bat. The story in Australia, South Africa and England are not that impressive either. I expected Jadeja’s limited overs statistics to be much better but I am left completely disappointed. Not just the average, even the strike rate is negligible. I can remember a couple of games clearly. The Champions Trophy finals and the World T20 Semis when the Pakistani batsmen and the West Indian batsmen hit him wherever they wanted to.
This takes us back to the question. Was Manjrekar correct to call Jadeja bits and pieces player? His statistics might agree with Manjrekar.
BCCI and their restrictions
It is a known fact that the Indian board ( I do not have much respect for a self-centred body )has lot of restrictions on the commentators. They are not allowed to comment about the team selection, administration, criticise players to name just a few. This is outrageous. No wonder all the Indian commentators are lame and they do not have much to talk about. They repeat the same thing every now. They are treated as the lackeys of the board. Ravi Shastri’s comments are legendary. Basically, he has become the laughing stock of the commentating world.
Once a commentator is contracted by the production company, he must be free to express himself and not be restricted by some stupid board. If the commentator is not doing justice to his job, he is actually betraying the public. He is withholding information from the public who are depended on the experts to understand the match happenings. The great commentator Ian Chappell once refused to commentate in one of the India vs Australia series because he did not want to be restricted in his views. He is someone who stands by his principal. I have listened to Nasser, Atherton, David, Warne, Holding and I felt absolutely privileged. They are all so clear and if they felt something is not correct they said so. It is the beauty of commentary. Especially, all of them are former players who has much more insight into the game than the average cricket fan.
Conclusion
I do not think Manjrekar must accept the sorry state of affairs and he must try his chance with English or Australian or South African or New Zealand commentary teams. He will probably be able to express himself much more freely but he may want to choose his words carefully.
If you think Manjrekar must be allowed to express himself, albeit without insulting others, leave your comment.