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Sanjay Manjrekar Receives Flak For Commenting On Stump Mics
By CricShots - Feb 13, 2019 6:33 pm
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Over the years, sports fans have witnessed the evolution of various sports and cricket is no exception to the same. Crediting the matches being televised, the game has managed to reach a larger audience and offers more entertainment when compared with older eras. In cricket, it has also been observed that the commentators explain the ever-changing match situations further enhances the experience of a cricket match. Among them, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar is arguably one of the most respected and learned commentators in the business today.

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Sanjay Manjrekar – one of BCCI’s renowned commentators

More often than not Manjrekar has been seen educating cricket fans across the globe about the key areas of a cricket match that is generally overlooked by many. His opinions in and around cricket seemed to be valued among the fans over the years. But, recently, he made a point that was neither appropriate nor in sync with the issue at hand.

ALSO READ: Sanjay Manjrekar And Michael Vaughan Fought Over England Team 

England’s Test skipper Joe Root was going about his business alongside Joe Denly on the third day of the 3rd Test against West Indies in St Lucia when Shannon Gabriel exchanged a few words with the batsmen. In what is believed to be a homophobic slur, Gabriel received a befitting reply from the England captain who was caught on the stump mic saying: “Don’t use that as an insult. There is nothing wrong with being gay”.

As soon as the video that recorded the whole episode surfaced on social media, cricket fans and pundits showered praise on Root for his responsible reply to the West Indies seamer. And later, during his media interaction, Root’s decision against revealing the details of Gabriel’s comments further had everyone singing his praise.

Reacting to Joe Root’s retort to Gabriel’s sledging, Manjrekar, too, had his opinion. But, the 53-year-old was seen criticising the International Cricket Council (ICC) for what he claimed was “increased use of stump mics”. Taking to Twitter, Manjrekar wrote: “After Sarfraz it’s Shannon Gabriel now who could be in trouble thanks to the stump mics. #ICC must brainstorm and decide if increased use of stump mics is actually good for the game or not”.

 

Now, with all due respect to Manjrekar, the tweet had no relevance to the impending issue of ever-growing racism in sports. To make matters worse, Manjrekar used Sarfraz Ahmed’s case – wherein the Pakistani captain was caught on the stump mic passing on a racist comment at Andile Phehlukwayo.

Former Indian cricketer went on to add that the stump mic got Sarfraz in trouble before causing trouble to Gabriel. Moreover, rather than appreciating the use of technology, in this case stump mics that helped in keeping such objectionable things in check, Manjrekar is blaming the ICC for its excessive use.

The arrival of stump mics and introduction in cricket matches is one of the numerous ways that is being used by the ICC to add the entertainment quotient to the game. After all, everyone wants to know what the cricketers talk about on the field and who doesn’t love MS Dhoni’s hilarious comments to the bowlers from behind the stumps. But, at the helm of it all, stump mics have also played a pivotal role in bringing such objectionable remarks to the fore.

Majrekar received a severe backlash for his commenst and it was severe as people demanded why he would ask such a silly question. Twitter user were not in a forgiving mood as they trolled him badly for what he posted. Take a look:

Tags flakJoe RootSanjay ManjrekarSarfraz AhmedShannon Gabrielstump micTwitterati

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