IPL 2025: Sanjay Manjrekar slyly poses with Ravindra Jadeja’s India jersey

 

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A post shared by Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaysphotos)

In 2019, when Manjrekar referred to the Chennai Super Kings all-rounder as a “bits-and-pieces” cricketer, his friendship with Jadeja suffered. The former claimed that Jadeja was a pure bowler in red-ball cricket and that he wasn’t a full-fledged all-rounder in the ODI format. After making his direct remarks, Manjrekar faced a great deal of criticism and anger on social media.

Bits-and-pieces players, like Jadeja at this stage in his 50-over cricket career, are not my thing. He is a bowler with pristine form in Test matches. However, I would prefer to have a batsman and a spinner in 50-over cricket,” he had stated on television.

“I’m still playing and I’ve played twice as many matches as you have,” Jadeja said on social media following this. Respect those who have accomplished something. I’m sick of your linguistic babbling, @sanjaymanjrekar.

But it appears that the two have put their differences aside in recent years. Following his outstanding performance in the 2022 Asia Cup, Manjrekar asked Jadeja if he felt comfortable speaking with him in an interview. “Yes, absolutely” was the spin-bowling all-rounder’s humorous solution.

Manjrekar has commended Jadeja’s versatility ever since. “Favourite cricketer” is how Manjrekar described the latter after he took his fourteenth Test five-for. Jadeja also wrote about the seasoned pundit as a “good friend” in a Facebook post.