Former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar, one of the most technically sound batsmen in world cricket recently released his autobiography titled “Imperfect”. It reveals a lot of inside stories about cricket in Mumbai, international cricket, and his career as a commentator.

Over 21 years after he last played for India, Manjrekar has established himself as a cricket expert and TV commentator. Speaking to The Quint in an exclusive interview ahead of his book release, he revealed certain interesting insights about his career.

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Manjrekar who played well on bouncy pitches was given the title ‘Mr.Perfect’ and ‘Mr. Different’ by Sachin Tendulkar because he always aimed to work on tiny technical flaws. He played for the national squad in 111 matches had a dream start to his Test career, scoring a stunning 108 against a Windies team which comprised of bowlers like Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Ian Bishop and Courtney Walsh, in just his third Test.

Manjrekar conceded that he was aware of the time when he was no more required in that his time was up when he saw the advent of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. Going into retrospection, the veteran right-hander recollects how the duo starred during India’s 1996 England tour.

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It was a tour that established the hold of the two most successful batsman in Indian history. Manjrekar revealed, while Dravid’s success was evident, Ganguly’s form took everyone by surprise. Sourav was included in the squad not on the back of statistics but on the basis of his sheer talent.

Speaking on the same lines, Manjrekar said, “He (Sourav) was not in the team on the back of big scores but was picked because he had talent. Just the way he batted in those conditions, we all thought he will have a good series and his success eventually in the Test series didn’t take us by surprise. Dravid looked like he was destined to play for India, but the way they batted in the series, I knew my time was up.”