'It's Jadeja batting so I better shut up': Manjrekar's tongue-in-cheek on-air remark leaves commentators in splits

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar cheekily referred to his old ‘bits and pieces’ duel with India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja during the T20 World Cup warm-up game against Bangladesh at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Saturday. Manjrekar made the statement during commentary, which left his colleagues in splits.

It happened in the final ball of the 17th over during India's batting innings. After dismissing Suryakumar Yadav, spinner Tanvir Islam handed a scare to Jadeja in the first delivery he faced. The left-handed batter shuffled inwards for a big slog across the line, but missed as wicketkeeper Liton Das whipped out the bails. Bangladesh broke into a loud appeal and the decision was referred to the third umpire.

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Jadeja had not part of his back leg behind the line at the time of the dismissal, causing the commentators, who were watching the replay, to reckon that it was out, although it was pointed out that the benefit of out in case of an inconclusive remark goes to the batter.

Manjrekar, who was part of the commentary box, reckoned that the bowlers should be favoured in such situations as he highlighted that Jadeja had no portion of his toes behind the crease. However, he quickly moved on from his statement with a cheeky remark.

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“He did not get his toes behind the line and only the toes, as you can see, are in contact with the ground. Now it's Jadeja batting so I better shut up,” he said as the other two commentators burst into laughter.

Jadeja eventually survived as the camera could not zoom in on the toes to check if any portion of it was behind the line. The benefit of the doubt did go in favour of the batter.

What happened between Sanjay Manjrekar and Ravindra Jadeja?

During the 2019 ODI World Cup, Manjrekar took a swipe at Jadeja, branding him a 'bits and pieces' player. However, the all-rounder, undeterred by the criticism, responded on social media, 'I've played twice the number of matches you have and I'm still going strong. It's time to respect those who have achieved. I've had my fill of your verbal diarrhoea.'

Later, Jadeja displayed an all-round performance against New Zealand as he smashed 77 runs while stitching a 116-run stand alongside MS Dhoni and picked up a wicket. And Manjrekar was all praise for the India star.

"I have to apologise to him (Ravindra Jadeja), he was looking for me but I wasn't there. I was in the lounge taking my lunch, I'm sorry," Manjrekar said in the post-match discussion.