Ravindra Jadeja celebrates after scoring his half-century (Source: Reuters/Sanjay Manjrekar Twitter) Ravindra Jadeja celebrates after scoring his half-century (Source: Reuters/Sanjay Manjrekar Twitter)

Former Indian cricketer-turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar praised all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for proving him wrong with his stupendous performance in World Cup 2019 semi-final against New Zealand at Old Trafford, Manchester on Wednesday. Manjrekar faced a lot of flak for calling Jadeja ‘a bits and pieces player’. The all-rounder also responded to the criticism on Twitter, calling his commentary ‘verbal diarrhoea.’

However, things changed on Wednesday as Manjrekar lauded Jadeja for playing one of the finest ODI innings of his career.

“Bits and by pieces, he just ripped me apart today. Bits and by pieces of sheer brilliance just proved me wrong on all fronts. But this is Ravindra Jadeja we have not seen very often. In the last 40 innings, his highest score has been around 33. Today, he was brilliant, economical with the ball and the familiar celebration that we see more in the Test matches,” Manjrekar said.

On being asked about his presence during Jadeja’s iconic celebration after slamming his half-century, Manjrekar said, “Forgive me, I wasn’t there. I have to apologise, he was looking for me, star of today looking for me but I wasn’t there. I was in the lounge eating my lunch.”

“By bits ‘n’ pieces of sheer brilliance, he’s ripped me apart on all fronts.”@sanjaymanjrekar has something to say to @imjadeja after the all-rounder’s fantastic performance against New Zealand.#INDvNZ | #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/i96h5bJWpE — ICC (@ICC) July 10, 2019

The 30-year-old came to bat when India were 92/6 and were struggling while chasing a stiff 240. He staged India’s comeback with a 116-run partnership with MS Dhoni and scored 77 off 59 deliveries, which included four boundaries and an equal number of maximums.

Ahead of the game, Manjrekar felt that Jadeja should not have been picked in the Playing XI for semi-final clash as the pitch was it was not a spinning track and the Kiwis have a better record against the Indian tweakers.

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