Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, who sparked controversy for calling Ravindra Jadeja ‘ bits and pieces cricketer’ finally praised him for his all-round performance against the kiwis in the semi-final of the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup on Wednesday.
“By bits and pieces, he has completely ripped me apart today. By sheer brilliance, he has proved me wrong on all fronts. But this is not the Ravindra Jadeja you see very often. In the last 40 innings his highest was around 33″ Manjrekar said after the match. He further added that ” Today, he was brilliant. Economical with the ball and the familiar sword celebration that you see in test matches with him”
Jadeja played a gutsy innings when India were reeling for 92/6. He steadied the ship with Mahendra Singh Dhoni as they stitched a partnership of 116- runs with Jadeja scoring 77 off 59 balls. The left-hander was then dismissed by Trent Boult in the 48th over, hitting four fours and four sixes. But his exploits were not enough as the India team lost the semi-final fixture by 18 runs.
Earlier Jadeja had said “learn to respect people” while replying to Manjrekar’s remark.
Manjrekar had told the media that he was not a big fan of bits and pieces players like Jadeja. The statement didn’t go well with the all-rounder as Jadeja said in a tweet that he had played twice the number of games than the former cricketer.
