Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has now once again got in the firing line of the fans as the netizens dug out an old tweet of the commentator in which he had raised questions over Rishabh Pant’s wicket-keeping.
Rishabh Pant, who had always been touted as the heir apparent of MS Dhoni, had been criticized for his wicket-keeping until recently. While Pant became India’s first-choice keeper in overseas Test, there had been doubts over his glovemanship in home conditions where the ball turns sharply and stays low.
Hence, with wickets being vital, especially in low-scoring games, India had preferred Wriddhiman Saha over Pant for some time in Indian conditions despite Pant being a better batsman than Saha.
Last year, though, Pant was in staggering form with the bat and made it impossible for the management to bench him when India hosted England. But, he missed a stumping of Jack Leach of R Ashwin’s bowling. Then, Sanjay Manjrekar expressed doubts over the youngster’s wicket-keeping.
“Everyone misses stumping. Even great keepers do but the way Pant missed that stumping of Leach off Ashwin tells me all I need to know about Pant the keeper,” Manjrekar had tweeted.
Here’s Sanjay Manjrekar’s tweet from last year on Pant’s wicket-keeping:
Everyone misses stumping. Even great keepers do but the way Pant missed that stumping of Leach off Ashwin tells me all I need to know about Pant the keeper.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) February 7, 2021
Manjrekar, about whom fans say his criticism turned around Jadeja’s career, once again got heavily trolled by Twitterati for this comment on young Pant.
First for Kohli, then Jadeja and now Pant.
Consistently Flawed analysis… https://t.co/eSwJXTDzOR— jethiya (@JethaKeJanbaaz) March 16, 2022
#RishabhPant #INDvSl@sanjaymanjrekar https://t.co/PxC6Q43RDS pic.twitter.com/ovpXiauuoK
— Rohan (@Rohan1_618) March 15, 2022
No one’s a worse reader of the game than this guy.. https://t.co/S6QPEhyhJp
— LiveIndian (@liveindian4) March 15, 2022
Rise of pant and Jadeja is unreal and credit goes to this man ? ? https://t.co/u9gC9Bjs4B
— ` (@AnICTFan) March 15, 2022
No one has had as many foot-in-mouth moments like Sanjay Manjrekar https://t.co/wwiAiqwVKF
— Abhimanyu Bose (@bose_abhimanyu) March 14, 2022
Everytime sanjay posts something dumb, it always backfires! ??? #INDvENG #INDvsENG https://t.co/GAfsS0zw7F
— Vignesh Bhatt (@vigneshbhatt1) February 16, 2021
Now, Pant has grown leaps and bounds as a wicket-keeper. His performance behind the stumps was so impressive during the Sri Lanka series that his work as a keeper contributed significantly to him getting the Man of the Series award in addition to his exploits with the bat.
At the post-match presentation after the Bangalore Test, Pant was asked about his marked improvement in wicket-keeping. He said: “I think both (batting and keeping), you need to keep evolving, I’ve made mistakes in the past and want to keep improving. I think it’s more about confidence, previously, I used to think too much, now I’m only focusing on every ball.”
