The veteran Indian off-spinner R Ashwin on Monday responded to Sanjay Manjerakar’s ‘all-time great’ tweet in the funniest manner possible. A couple of days ago, Manjrekar, during an interaction on ESPNCricinifo, said that he has a problem with Ashwin being included in the category of ‘all-time greats.’
Explaining his comments, later on, Sanjay Manjrekar had tweeted, “All-time great’ is the highest praise and acknowledgment given to a cricketer. Cricketers like Don Bradman, Sobers, Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Virat, etc are all-time greats in my book. With due respect, Ashwin is not quite there as an all-time great yet. #AllTimeGreatExplained.”
‘All- time great’ is the highest praise & acknowledgement given to a cricketer. Cricketers like Don Bradman, Sobers, Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Virat etc are all time greats in my book. With due respect, Ashwin not quite there as an all-time great yet. 🙏#AllTimeGreatExplained😉
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) June 6, 2021
R Ashwin replied to Manjrekar’s tweet with a famous dialogue from the Tamil movie ‘Aparachith.’ “Apdi Solladha Da Chaari, Manasellam Valikirdhu,” his tweet read.
For all those who don’t understand Tamil, it’s a dialogue from the movie Aparachith!
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) June 7, 2021
Manjrekar took the comment sportingly as he quote tweeted it saying, “Also Chaari, my heart aches to see simple, straightforward, cricketing assessments kick up a fuss these days”.
Also Chaari, my heart aches to see simple, straightforward, cricketing assessments kick up a fuss these days😂😂😂 https://t.co/7r7SNqpQq3
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) June 8, 2021
When translated into English, the dialogue can be read as: “Don’t say things like that, it hurts.” Manjrekar’s words had come during a discussion on R Ashwin with former Australia captain Ian Chappell on ESPNCricinfo.
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In his Test career, Ashwin has taken scalped 409 wickets in 78 Tests at an average of 24.69, including 30 five-wicket hauls and seven 10-wicket hauls. He is also India’s fourth-highest wicket-taker in the longest format.
The cricketer-turned commentator pointed fingers at Ashwin’s records in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) countries to suggest he doesn’t belong there.
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Manjrekar also said young left-arm spinner Axar Patel had overpowered the senior-off spinner during the home series against England earlier this year. During ESPNCricinfo show ‘Runorder’. Manjrekar said, “When people start talking about him as being one of the all-time greats of the game, then I have a few problems.”
