It was me losing control and being unprofessional: Sanjay Manjrekar on disrespecting Harsha Bhogle in com-box

New Delhi, Dec 31: Cricketer-turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar was in news for all the wrong reasons for quite a few times in the year 2019. The former India batsman first drew sharp criticism from India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and fans for his 'bits and pieces cricketer' analogy for the Saurashtra cricketer.

Later, during India's maiden Pink-Ball Test at Kolkata's Eden Gardens against Bangladesh Manjrekar disrespected veteran commentator Harsha Bhogle while being on air.

The movement of the pink-ball during the twilight and under the lights has been a subject of discussion all through the match for it never seemed easy for the batsmen to sight it properly and play it.

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While discussing the visibility of the pink-ball that is being used in the Day-Night Test, Bhogle had called for a proper analysis of the new format of Test and suggested that players should be asked about any problems in sighting the ball.

Manjrekar, who was also on the mic, was quick to respond and said that "only you need to ask Harsha, not us, who have played a fair bit of the game."

The Mumbaikar faced backlash for his 'boorish' comments, which many found in bad taste, to a senior commentator.

Speaking about the entire episode on ESPNCricinfo videocast, the 54-year-old said, "With that particular comment, it was me losing control and I was unprofessional, I was wrong. It is something that I regret, it was wrong of me so that is what really bothers me that I let my emotions get the better of me. So mostly being unprofessional and to an extent indecent as well. The first thing that I did was apologise to the producers because I was wrong."

The former India batsman further added, "People who have read my book know that I have actually made a plea for production companies to have good commentators, doesn't matter whether they have played cricket or not."