NAGPUR: He has this no-airs persona about himself – no celeb tantrums and no pretensions. From ‘playing the shots’ as one of India’s most stylist batsmen to now ‘calling the shots’ as a commentator, Sanjay Manjrekar has slalomed a lot over last two decades.
Nothing much, though, has changed the way he thinks about the game. He has an eagle eye on the Indian cricket but rarely does he make heavy weather of the game.While the gossip mills are working overtime regarding the tumultuous relationship between MS Dhoni and Virender Sehwag, Manjrekar maintained that the ‘spat’ was merely a storm in the teacup.”I feel these things are custom-made by the media. When the actual on-field cricket is not active, these reports always crop up. Gossips always fill in the slot allotted for cricket. I honestly think the media is blowing the issue out of proportion,” said Manjrekar while talking to the reporters on the sidelines of a function organized by IMA on Sunday.Manjrekar also asserted that once the game will resume, the controversy will die its natural death. “Even the people reading stuffs like these will forget the issue once the cricketing season starts next month,” he added.When asked about India’s chances in the forthcoming Twenty20 World Cup, given that it’s happening in the sub-continent, Manjrekar again kept it simple. “I feel Twenty20 World Cup is kind of a lottery. It’s such a small tournament lasting just two weeks, that you just cannot predict who’s going to win.”I also feel that T20 World Cup has arrived quite early. We should have given a bit more time for T20s to establish as a concept before dishing out the World Cup,” he added.Manjrekar has always been of the opinion that the BCCI should use Rahul Dravid’s cricketing brain for the betterment of the game.”He (Dravid) is a role model for every youngster. Though we hardly read him opining about certain things, I believe he has a great cricketing brain. Once he’ll be given charge of certain things, I am sure, he’ll do tremendously well,” said Manjrekar.The BCCI is not a big fan of DRS and so is Sanjay Manjrekar. “I think DRS shifts the focus to the accuracy of umpiring decisions than the actual game. It would have been a wise idea to introduce the DRS had the success percentage of umpiring decisions been 50% or 60%. Right now, it’s above 94%. Then, what is the need of DRS,” he signed off.
TNN