Sports News
We are fine, Sanjay Manjrekar speaks of his ‘cold’ relationship with Sachin Tendulkar
"We bump into each other at grounds. He looks at me. I look at him. We are fine," said Manjrekar.
Sanjay Manjrekar appears to have touched quite a few interesting topics in his autobiography “Imperfect” and at the launch of the book on Wednesday, the former India cricketer discussed big cricketing personalities like Sachin Tendulkar, Imran Khan and his own father Vijay Manjrekar unequivocally.
Manjrekar, who played his last international games in 1996, took up cricket commentary after retirement and quite a few times seemed to be critical of arguably India’s greatest batsman and fellow Mumbaikar. Manjrekar revealed how things were between them now. “We bump into each other at grounds. He looks at me. I look at him. We are fine,” said Manjrekar, who scored an unbeaten century in what was Tendulkar’s Test debut in Karachi way back in 1989.
Manjrekar, who played 37 Tests and 74 ODIs between 1987 and 1996, according to many, didn’t do justice to his great batting talent. At one time, he was considered India’s most technically correct batsman. His last Test match came against South Africa under the captaincy of Tendulkar. Manjrekar explained why he didn’t try hard enough to stage a return to the national team. “I did not want to undergo the grind of playing in the Ranji Trophy to regain my lost place,” he said without beating around the bush.
A well-known voice in world cricket nowadays, Manjrekar was quick to choose Pakistan legend Imran Khan when asked who he thought was the best captain. “It’s a no-brainer. I am a fan of Imran Khan. I would have loved to play under him. Among the Indians, I like Mahendra Singh Dhoni. I also would have liked to play under (current captain) Virat Kohli. He’s an in-your-face leader who hates losing games and gets very upset then,” he said.
Talking about his father, who featured in 55 Tests for India, the 52-year-old said: “I had no plan of including him in my book at first. But then I decided to include all those who had made an impact on me. The strongest emotion I felt when near him was fear which was common (between father and son) in those days.
“The way he (the late Vijay Manjrekar) handled me had a lot to do with my success as a cricketer. I’m happy that both my children have nothing to do with cricket and I had allowed them to chart their own careers.”
