“If You Don’t Let Me Talk…”: Sanjay Manjrekar, Irfan Pathan in heated debate over Jaiswal Run-Out

On By Littum




India looked to have bounced back on Day 4 of the 4th Test against Australia as Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli put on a beautiful 102-run partnership for the third wicket. But a terrible mix-up between Jaiswal and Kohli cost the former his wicket. While there are still different theories on who is to blame for Jaiswal’s dismissal, former Indian cricketers Sanjay Manjrekar and Irfan Pathan were engaged in a heated argument on the post-day show of broadcaster Star Sports.

Manjrekar felt that Kohli should have responded to Jaiswal’s call and taken the single as it was the latter who ran at the danger end. However, Pathan disagreed and said that Kohli was also in danger of being run out at the striker’s end as the shot from Jaiswal was quite hard.

“The ball was going slow, I don’t think Kohli would have run out. It was Jaiswal’s call. Maybe a risky run but he was at the danger end, not Kohli. It was a schoolboy mistake by Virat that he looked back and decided, that it was not a run, if it was a bad call by Jaiswal, he would have got out at the non-striker’s end, Manjrekar said.

Irfan, on the other hand, countered Manjrekar’s version and said that Kohli would probably not be confident of taking the run seeing how quickly the ball went to the fielder, Pat Cummins. The former India all-rounder also maintained that as a non-striker, Virat also has the right to reject a run if he feels it is risky.

The two former cricketers even overlapped at times, prompting Manjrekar to even say, “If you don’t want to let me talk, that’s fine”.

Manjrekar even lost his cool when Irfan continued to press his opinion. He said: “Irfan Pathan’s new interpretation of whether it is a run or not should be added to the coaching manual.”

Later during the discussion, Manjrekar even attributed Kohli’s dismissal to the ‘guilt’ he must have felt after playing a role in Jaiswal’s dismissal.

“Kohli’s dismissal is probably also due to the guilt he had inside his heart over Jaiswal’s run-out. He left outside off deliveries till then but lost concentration after the run-out incident,” he said.

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