The former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar is in trouble for a comment he made during live TV commentary. While covering the India vs New Zealand game in the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup on Friday Manjrekar mentioned that he doesn’t know much about players from North India.
This came up when he was discussing the coaching team of the Indian women’s cricket team. His co-commentator mentioned Munish Bali, a former Punjab player and fielding coach, and Manjrekar admitted he didn’t recognize him.
“Sorry, I could not recognize him. North ke players ki taraf mera zyada dhyaan nahi hota (I don’t pay much attention to the players from North India),” Manjrekar said during the broadcast.
This remark did not sit well with social media users leading to a strong backlash against him. In the match New Zealand defeated India by 58 runs at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Sophie Devine led New Zealand’s innings with an impressive 57 runs off 36 balls, helping them score 160 runs for 4 wickets. Renuka Thakur Singh was the standout bowler for India, taking 2 wickets for 27 runs.
India struggled in response, getting all out for 102 runs in 19 overs, with Rosemary Mair achieving 4 wickets for 19 runs.
A significant controversy arose on the last ball of the 14th over of New Zealand’s innings. After Amelia Kerr ran for a single off Deepti Sharma’s delivery, Harmanpreet Kaur, who fielded the ball, ran towards the bowler instead of throwing it as the umpire called the over complete.
Sophie Devine then attempted to run for a second run. Harmanpreet threw the ball to the striker’s end, getting Kerr out, but the umpire ruled it not out since the ball was deemed dead. Harmanpreet clearly disagreed with the decision.
