Sanjay Manjrekar stirs controversy with controversial 'North ke players...' comment on live TV, receives backlash for 'Mumbai Lobby' reputation

Renowned for his candid opinions on Indian cricket, Manjrekar faced backlash for a comment he made during the commentary of India's ICC Women's T20 World Cup opener against New Zealand on Friday.

During a commentary stint for the Hindi broadcast team, the commentary panel were discussing Munish Bali, who is the fielding coach for the women’s team after having made the step over from the U-19 men’s unit.

Manjrekar’s commentary partner was discussing Bali, pointing out that he was a former cricketer for Punjab before his role as a fielding coach. Manjrekar responded: “Sorry, meine unko pehechana nahin. North ke players ke saath mere zyaada dhyaan nahin hota. (Sorry, I didn’t recognize him. I am not too aware of players from the North.)”

Fans weren’t too happy with how this reflected in an ignorance of cricketers from elsewhere in the country, as well as a lack of awareness of the Indian women’s team’s ranks in this World Cup. The comment also rankled given the captain of the team, Harmanpreet Kaur, also hails from Punjab.

Fans were quick to criticize the former Mumbai batter for what was interpreted as a biased opinion on air.

Munish Bali of Patiala is one of the most experienced coaches on the circuit in Indian cricket, having made his start as head coach for Punjab’s age-group level teams. He also has experience with the international setup, having been the assistant coach for the U-19 World Cup winning team in 2008 which boasted of terrific fielders such as Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and Manish Pandey.

Bali also assisted VVS Laxman when the former India batter was acting as deputy for Rahul Dravid, joining the men’s senior team as fielding coach in tours to Ireland and New Zealand.

Fans expected someone such as Manjrekar, chosen for the World Cup commentary team, to be aware of such an experienced and influential figure within the Indian camp.

Manjrekar has previously been in hot water for his on-air comments on several occasions, such as a misjudged remark towards co-commentator Harsha Bhogle during India’s tour of Australia 2019, after which he apologised for unprofessionalism. He most recently was criticised for his handling of a special occasion during the toss in a Rajasthan Royals IPL match.

India succumbed to a heavy 58-run defeat against the Kiwis in Dubai, as the batting floundered during the chase and no batter succeeded in scoring over 15 runs. With qualification from the group key for the team, they will be looking to bounce back in style in the key encounter against Pakistan.