Harsha Bhogle and Sanjay Manjrekar
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar on Monday expressed his regret over his bitter argument with Harsha Bhogle during the on-air commentary on day three of the historic pink-ball Test between India and Bangladesh. Manjrekar admitted that it was wrong of him to speak those words and that he had later apologised to the producers immediately.
"With that particular comment, it was me losing control and I was unprofessional, I was wrong. It is something that I regret, it was wrong of me so that is what really bothers me that I let my emotions get the better of me.
"So mostly being unprofessional and to an extent indecent as well. First thing that I did was apologise to the producers because I was wrong.
"People who have read my book know that I have actually made plea for production companies to have good commentators, doesn't matter whether they have played cricket or not," Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo's videocast.
During the match, Bhogle was talking about the visibility of the pink ball during the final session of a day and that he needs to ask the players regarding this. However, Manjrekar reckoned that there was no probelem regarding the visibility as he has been a former international cricketer, unlike Bhogle.
Well there is a post-mortem done on this game and there should be a post mortem on this game. Visibility of that ball will be a big factor against the big white sight-screen," Bhogle said.
"Don't think so. Because when you see the slip catchers the way they have taken catches, I don't think visibility is an issue at all. The texture of the ball is the issue," responded Manjrekar, who has been a veteran of 37 Test matches for India.
"We just need to ask the players what they think," replied Bhogle immediately.
Manjrekar, taking a dig at Bhogle, said, "You need to ask, for those who have played cricket, it's evident it can be seen well."
Bhogle countered saying, "The only reason you need to ask is, having played cricket should never be a limitation or a ceiling to learning. We would never have had T20 cricket otherwise."
"Point taken, don't agree," Manjrekar replied.
Manjrekar was criticised immensely by cricket fraternity on social media following the argument.
