Sanjay Manjrekar and the urge of being different.

Left: Sanjay Manjrekar, Right: Gautam Gambhir. SOurce: Instagram

I have known Sanjay (Manjrekar) for years. And may I say, I enjoy speaking to him. Having said that, I have never understood his urge of being different. His latest tweet on Gautam Gambhir, may I say, wasn’t necessary. In fact, it is unbecoming of a senior professional like Sanjay. It comes across as bitter and unnecessary.

First, I did not find anything objectionable with the Gautam Gambhir press conference in Mumbai on Monday. Second, I have been part of press meets which are far more mundane than the Gautam one. Or far more volatile. For Sanjay to say what he has, in my opinion, made little sense.

This is where I need to go back to Sachin Tendulkar and ‘Playing it My Way.’ Sample this from Tendulkar: “(On the night of the 194 declaration) Sanjay Manjrekar, who was in Pakistan as a commentator, turned up in my room. Sanjay said that it had been a brave decision to declare and that it was a good sign for Indian cricket. He carried on in that vein until I very politely asked him if he knew what he was talking about. I explained to him that he was not aware of what had transpired in the dressing room and had arrived at his judgment without knowing the real facts of the matter. I made it clear that I did not appreciate his opinion, which I thought was a deliberate attempt to be different.”

The tweet about Gautam is clearly not a case in isolation. The tweet about Ravindra Jadeja, about Sania Mirza, about Virat Kohli, over the years Sanjay has been known for such tweets, which aren’t really becoming of someone of his stature.

While some say this is yet again Delhi versus Mumbai playing out, I think it is an example of the social media curse that is now a constant in our lives. Sanjay isn’t commentating at the moment and perhaps it is his way of staying relevant. I haven’t spoken to him, so one really doesn’t know why he did and what he did. But what one does know is that the timing and content are both unnecessary. There was nothing in the press conference that merited the tweet. At a time when the team was flying out to Australia for a very important series, the controversy was unwarranted.

Sanjay has also suggested that Gautam doesn’t really know how to handle the media, a comment that casts doubts on his communication skills. Gautam and Sanjay have both been in commentary for years and am sure have worked for the same broadcaster. In fact, Gautam was quite a celebrated commentator and was paid top dollar by leading broadcasters of the country. So where is this comment coming from? Jealousy? Regionalism?

With social media, abuse is now par. People don’t think twice before calling someone MDC. What Sanjay has done is added fuel to the fire. Gautam is already under the pump for the India New Zealand series. Social media revolutionaries are always on the lookout for such opportunities to nail people. They love to heap abuse when someone is not at his best. Sanjay played into their hands. And that’s where one expects better from someone like him. Someone said to me yesterday, “We are our worst enemies and don’t need outsiders to inflict damage”. Sadly, this sounds true.

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