- Monday, May 06, 2024
The 58-year-old Sanjay Manjrekar has made the headlines for wrong reasons a number of times in the past with his selection of words.
By: Shubham Ghosh
SANJAY Manjrekar was not a batter that the admirers of today’s T20 brand of cricket would want to remember but as a commentator, the former India cricketer has perhaps annoyed the fans even more.
The 58-year-old recently made the headlines for asking the crowd in Mumbai, also his hometown, to “behave” during the toss at the Wankhede Stadium for the game between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals, after they continuously booed the home captain Hardik Pandya. But it was only a few days later that Manjrekar found himself at the receiving end for making a remark during yet another toss, this time in Jaipur. Rajasthan were a party to this game too.
The incident happened during the game between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Before the coin was flipped, a little occasion marking women empowerment was observed. Rajasthan players wore an all-pink attire to express solidarity with empowered women from the rural areas of the state under their initiative Pink Promise.
Read: Commentator Manjrekar schools home crowd amid constant booing of Hardik Pandya
Under the initiative, a local woman joined the captains of the two sides — Sanju Samson (Rajasthan) and Faf du Plessis (Bengaluru) at the toss and handed over to them a solar light and panel.
Manjrekar at this juncture concluded saying “now back to serious business” — indicating that it was time to get on with the game.
Read: Jos Buttler ton neutralises Kohli’s as Rajasthan beat Bengaluru to top table again
🚨 Toss Update 🚨
Rajasthan Royals win the toss and elect to field against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Follow the Match ▶️ https://t.co/IqTifedknm#TATAIPL | #RRvRCB pic.twitter.com/5l5wvoXLMM
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 6, 2024
His remarks did not go down well with many social media users who slammed the commentator asking whether the initiative for women’s empowerment was not a serious business.
Here are some of the reactions that netizens came up against Manjrekar’s alleged insensitivity.
Sanjay Manjrekar talking about women empowerment initiative by Rajasthan Royals.
– He ends with 'now back to serious business'. pic.twitter.com/vvCYtIl79f
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 6, 2024
Sanjay Manjrekar talks about RR's ‘Pink Promise’ initiative (where the team wears pink to amply support to women in rural Rajasthan) and concludes it with: "Now back to serious business".
These people can’t even do tokenism properly🤦♂️
— Siddharth (@DearthOfSid) April 6, 2024
Sanjay Manjrekar talking about women empowerment initiative by Rajasthan Royals.
– He ends with 'now back to serious business'. pic.twitter.com/vvCYtIl79f
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 6, 2024
Just one word to Sanjay – Behave
— Sudharshan R (@rsudharshan95) April 6, 2024
Manjrekar is mad..he think IPL is more serious thing than solar
— भाई साहब (@Bhai_saheb) April 6, 2024
Manjrekar had landed in a major problem during the 50-over World Cup in 2019 when he called Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja “bits and pieces cricketer”, leading to a massive backlash, including from the spinner allrounder.
