Ravichandran Ashwin Responds After Sanjay Manjrekar Says He Isn't An "All-Time Great"

Sanjay Manjrekar, former cricketer-turned-commentator, courted new controversy after opining that in his book, ace Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin doesn’t qualify to be an all-time great, like Sachin Tendulkar, Sir Don Bradman, Wasim Akram, and others.

During a chat on ESPNCricinfo also featuring former Australia captain Ian Chappell, Sanjay Manjrekar said that he has a problem with people who put Ravichandran Ashwin, who has more than 400 wickets in Tests, 150 ODI wickets, and 52 T20I wickets, in the category of all-time greats.

His reasoning for the same was quite obnoxious, to say the least as he pointed out that Ashwin didn’t have a single fifer or an outstanding record in the SENA countries that is South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia.

Ashwin Doesn’t Have A Single Five-Wicket Haul In The SENA Countries, So Cannot Be An All-Time Great: Sanjay Manjrekar

The off-spinner has taken 30 five-wicket hauls in his career – 24 of which came in India, 3 in Sri Lanka, 2 in West Indies, and 1 in Bangladesh – none in the SENA countries, which is what Sanjay Manjrekar underlines heavily.

“When people start talking about him as being one of the all-time greats of the game then I have a few problems. One basic problem I have with Ashwin is that when you look at SENA countries, Ashwin doesn’t have a single five-wicket haul there,” Sanjay Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.

Even Ian Chappell was taken aback by what Sanjay Manjrekar said and cited the example of West Indies’ Joel Garner, who at 6’8” tall, one of the most menacing of the great WI pace quartet of the 1970s and 80s. Chappell pointed out that Garner didn’t have many five-wicket hauls and yet is considered an all-time great.

“Don’t Say That Bro, It Hurts”- Ravi Ashwin’s Sarcastic Reply To Sanjay Manjrekar

Ravichandran Ashwin, who is currently in the UK for the upcoming Final of the World Test Championship (WTC), came up with a sarcastic way to reply to Sanjay Manjrekar’s assessment of him not being an all-time great.

He posted a meme from a Tamil movie which translated into “Don’t Say That Bro, It Hurts.”

????? https://t.co/PFJavMfdIE pic.twitter.com/RbWnO9wYti

— Ashwin ?? (@ashwinravi99) June 7, 2021

Ravi Ashwin did exceedingly well on the recent tour of Australia where he picked 12 wickets in 3 Tests, including dismissing Steve Smith three times.

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