On commentary duty during the Women's T20 World Cup, Sanjay Manjrekar drew the ire of several fans with a remark made about North Indian players.
Manjrekar: I don't pay attention to North Indian players
Manjrekar was in the commentary box for Star Sports' Hindi-language coverage of the Women's T20 World Cup, and caught flak online for his words during the second innings of India's opening match of the tournament, against New Zealand.
In the 11th over of the run chase, with India struggling, the camera panned to head coach Amol Muzumdar.
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Manjrekar commented, "Amol Muzumdar, ekdum happy spirit mein lag rahein hai, aur yeh hona chahiye, ki coach ko dekhkar team thodi si react kar jaati hai. Unke baayein taraf hai Aavishkar Salvi, jo unke assistant coach." (Amol Muzumdar looks in happy spirits, and this is good so the team can see the coach and react [positively]. To his left is Aavishkar Salvi, his assistant coach.)
Manjrekar's co-commentator chimed in, "Aur daayein taraf Munish Bali, former Punjab player aur abhi team ke fielding coach." (And to his right Munish Bali, former Punjab player and now the team's fielding coach.)
To this, Manjrekar replied, "Sorry, main unko pehehchaana nahi. North ke players ki taraf mera zyaada dhyaan nahi hota." (Sorry, I didn't recognise him. I don't pay much attention to North [Indian] players.)
Manjrekar's comments draw 'Mumbai lobby' jibes from fans
While he may have meant the line in a light-hearted manner, these words were not taken kindly by fans online, many of whom saw this as evidence of Manjrekar's bias towards those in the cricketing community hailing from his city, Mumbai, which is a stronghold of Indian cricket. His case was not helped by the fact that of the three people in the frame at the time, Manjrekar picked out Muzumdar and Salvi, both Mumbaikars.
The reaction to these comments had an added shade of annoyance from viewers after events earlier this week. In his capacity as an analyst for media outlet ESPNCricinfo, he had praised the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, another Mumbaikar, in India's stunning win over Bangladesh in Kanpur earlier this week, saying "India exhibited a kind of dominance we've never seen before".
It was not long before netizens dug up a social media post of his from August 2017, in which he had urged then-India skipper Virat Kohli, (who hails from Delhi, a North Indian territory) to push the BCCI to organise "tougher challenges" for the team after they thrashed Sri Lanka by an innings in Colombo.
Manjrekar has never been one to mince his words, but these latest comments may have added fuel to the fire of an age-old topic of discussion among Indian fans, over whether the "Mumbai lobby" does exist, and whether it plays a part in team selection, particularly for the national team.
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