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Former India cricketers Sanjay Manjrekar and Irfan Pathan engaged in a heated argument over Yashasvi Jaiswal’s run out in the fourth Test. Notably, India seemed to have gained the control of the Boxing Day Test on Day 2 against Australia. After the Aussies posted a mammoth total of 474 runs for 10 wickets, India came out to bat eyeing a successful chase. During India’s batting, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli scripted a beautiful partnership of 102 runs for the third wicket. However, the batters engaged in a horrible mix-up, which ended up costing Jaiswal.
After Jaiswal’s mix-up, former India cricketers Manjrekar and Pathan engaged in a heated argument during the post-day show. While Pathan felt Jaiswal was wrong to call for a run after hitting the ball crisply to mid-on, Manjrekar opined that Kohli made a ‘schoolboy error’ in looking at the ball, instead of looking at the batter. The incident took place after the end of the second day’s play. Manjrekar, who was present virtually at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, seemed to be incensed by Pathan’s opinion. He felt that Pathan wasn’t allowing him to speak and said, “Aap hi boliye.”
If you don’t want to let me speak...: Sanjay Manjrekar to Irfan Pathan
Manjrekar said on Star Sports, “Just because it’s Virat Kohli, we are thinking too much from his point of view. It was a very school [boy] error that he looked behind and decided there was no single there. It’s not the non-striker’s call to make. If it was Jaiswal’s bad call, the fielder Pat Cummins would have thrown it at non-striker’s end. But because Kohli said no, Jaiswal had no chance.”
Pathan replied, “Cricket’s truth is that when a ball goes to point, it’s the non-striker’s call but the striker can also say no.” The Mumbaikar replied, “Irfan that’s about point, we are talking about the ball going behind [the non-striker].” Manjrekar ended the argument with a sarcastic swipe at Pathan and said, “There should be a change to the coaching manual. Ifran Pathan’s new interpretation of running between the wickets should be included in it. A non-striker should also see if there’s a run or not even when the ball is behind him!"
