Sanjay Manjrekar became the latest victim of Twitter's ire for his comments on ODI cricket where he said that he finds the 50-over format 10 overs too long.
During India's first ODI against Australia in Hyderabad, Manjrekar sent out a tweet indicating that the 50-over game should be shortened. This tweet came during India's chase of 237 runs with MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav at the crease.
India looked in a spot of bother in the chase at the time of the comment but Dhoni forged a century stand with man of the match Jadhav to take India home comfortably in the end. Manjrekar's comment enraged fans on Twitter to the extent that they made some really harsh comments on the former India cricketer.
Here are some of the tweets in reaction to Manjrekar's remark:
Akki - This is what I say to my friend when you are commentating.
Alekhya - As a player you would have found 90 overs in an ODI too short for chasing a target. Aur abhi dialogue.
Akshay Rawat - Switch off your TV after 40 overs then...
Gautam - Yes, because you couldn't even survive 10 overs
RD - Even 10 overs feel like 50 overs when you are commentating.
Hriday299 - You can leave when it hits 40 overs. No probs. Will save people from trauma
Mohammad zeeshan - if we have 40 overs then after sometime u will say the same thing
Anand Sharma - I guess 50 over game has been paying your bills since ages. No need to experiment on it.
Pratik Deshpande - Have always found your tweets irrelevant.
AJ - Problem with stump mic!! problem with game play?? If you found it long then we request you to stop watching 50 overs game and commentory too.
Rakesh Yadav - Look who is talking.. the person played odi like test cricket...
Rookie - Sir 7 overs feel like 7 lives when you are in the commentary box
Ravindra dubey - Will that also mean 20% cut in commentators fees..
It is thus safe to say that the fans are loving the game as it is and are in no mood to watch a shortened version of 50-over cricket.
India's series against Australia is their last international assignment before the 2019 cricket World Cup in England. Virat Kohli's men are looking to fine-tune their preparations before the quadrennial event. Although most of the players have confirmed their berth on the flight to the United Kingdom, a couple of places in the squad are still up for grabs.
The Indian team management will look to use the ongoing five-match ODI series to finalise those places. One such spot is that of the second wicketkeeper and Rishabh Pant is contesting that place with Dinesh Karthik. While the former is in the squad for this series, Karthik has not been selected. Pant is yet to impress in the limited overs format of the game despite being a success in Test cricket.
India will their second ODI on March 5 in Nagpur.
