cricket

Updated: Mar 14, 2020 13:42 IST

Former India batsman and now a renowned broadcaster Sanjay Manjrekar has been reportedly dropped from the commentary panel of BCCI. Manjrekar, who has been a regular feature in the commentary box during India’s home matches for the past couple of years or so, may not be included in IPL 2020 too, which is now slated to begin from April 15, instead of March 29 because of the global outbreak of coronavirus.

Manjrekar was not present in Dharamsala during the first ODI between India and South Africa, which was washed out without a ball being bowled on Thursday. Other BCCI panel commentators Sunil Gavaskar, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, and Murali Kartik were, however, present at the venue, reported the Mumbai Mirror.

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While there was no clarity on the reason behind leaving Manjrekar out, the report added that the authorities were not happy with his work.

“Maybe he will be left out from the IPL panel too. At this stage, it is not on top of our minds. But the fact is they are not happy with his work,” A source was quoted as saying by Mirror.

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Manjrekar had found himself in the middle of a social media storm not once but twice last year when he first called Ravindra Jadeja a ‘bits and pieces’ cricketer and then a few months later questioned the credentials of fellow commentator Harsha Bhogle.

Manjrekar, however, had apologized for both of his comments later on.

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Meanwhile, the remaining two match of the India vs South Africa ODI series has been cancelled as BCCI decided not to risk the safety of cricketers, support staff, broadcasters and everyone involved due to the coronavirus threat.

Earlier on Friday, the board had also decided to postpone IPL till April 15. Originally the 13th edition of IPL slated to begin from March 29.