New Delhi, June 9: Days after he ruled out India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as an all-time great, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has courted yet another controversy with his comments regarding all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
Apparently, a Twitter user has shared screenshots of his conversation with the 55-year-old former cricketer in which Manjrekar, while talking about his comments regarding Jadeja in 2019, said the Rajkot cricketer doesn't understand English and he didn't even understand what he meant.
"Sad state you are in. Expecting me to worship players like you do... by the way I am not a fan. I am an analyst. And Jadeja doesn't know English so he did not know the actual meaning of bits and pieces. And surely somebody spelt verbal diarrhoea for him," Manjrekar wrote in the screenshot shared by a Twitter user.
Manjrekar - the cricketer-turned-commentator - became a part of a massive debate and invited a huge controversy when he termed Jadeja as a 'bits and pieces' cricketer during the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in England. The Mumbaikar's comment didn't go down well with the Saurashtra cricketer who took to the social media to slam Manjrekar and tweeted he has 'verbal diarrhoea' and even signalled towards the commentary box - in an apparent gesture towards Manjrekara - after scoring a fifty in the semi-final against New Zealand.
Recently, Manjrekar sparked a debate after his remarks that Ashwin isn't an all-time great on his list. Manjrekar opined that since the Tamil Nadu cricketer's figures in SENA i.e. South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia, countries aren't good. He said the players are brought 'out of their comfort zone' on such venues (SENA countries). The former batsman claimed that the off-spinner's credentials in SENA countries are yet to be proved.
In a video for ESPNCricinfo, Manjrekar said: "Ravichandran Ashwin, with due respect to him, I think he's a great guy at what he does, but when people start talking about him as one of the all-time greats, I have a few problems with that."
"One basic problem that I have with Ashwin is that when you look at SENA, the countries for batsmen and bowlers, places where Indians find themselves outside their comfort zone - it's amazing that he doesn't have a single five-wicket haul. Not one five-wicket haul in all these countries," Manjrekar added further.
Several fans and cricketers took strong exception to Manjrekar's comments on Ashwin and criticised him.