Sanjay Manjrekar's 'over the moon for my favorite cricketer' post for Ravindra Jadeja stuns cricket world

Sanjay Manjrekar stunned the cricket world by calling Ravindra Jadeja his “favourite cricketer” after his bowling heroics in the first innings of the ongoing third and final Test between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Ravindra Jadeja was superb with the ball as the left-arm spinner made double strikes on the second and third sessions, respectively, to finish with a five-wicket haul in his 22 overs in the ongoing third and final Test match against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium.

Sanjay Manjrekar hails Ravindra Jadeja as his favorite after stunning five-wicket haul against New Zealand

Jadeja bowled one maiden over and gave away only 65 runs in 22 overs while scalping five wickets, including the key wickets of Will Young (71), Tom Blundell (0), and Glenn Phillips (17) in the ongoing Mumbai Test. Apart from Jadeja, Washington Sundar was also on fire against New Zealand.

Read Also: Watch: Ravindra Jadeja destroys Glenn Phillips' stumps with a beauty in Mumbai Test

Washington Sundar (4/81) and Jadeja’s remarkable efforts helped the Indian cricket team restrict the Kiwi team to 235 runs in their first innings in the ongoing third and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium. On the field, Jadeja was bamboozling the Kiwi batters, and Sanjay Manjrekar played the best shot on social media during the first inning.

Taking to his social media handle, Manjrekar hailed Ravindra Jadeja for taking the responsibility and delivering for the Indian cricket team when he and his team needed the most against New Zealand. Having been impressed by Jadeja’s Wankhede heroics, Manjrekar labeled him as his “favorite cricketer.”

Here's Manjrekar's tribute post for Jadeja -

Sanjay Manjrekar posed on X: “Over the moon for my favorite cricketer, Jadeja. ☺️ A fifer! He needed that! And so did the team. 👏👏👏.”

Over the moon for my favourite cricketer, Jadeja. ☺️
A fifer! He needed that! And so did the team. 👏👏👏

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) November 1, 2024

Notably, Jadeja was struggling to deliver with both bat and ball in Test cricket recently. The Indian all-rounder had scored his last fifty against Bangladesh in Chennai. He has taken 10 wickets in the last home Test series against Bangladesh and managed only 6 wickets in the first two Tests against New Zealand.

Read Also: "Rohit Sharma looks finished in red-ball cricket" - Twitter slams India captain after another failure in Tests

His performance in the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph was also disappointing. So, Manjrekar feels Jadeja needed to return among the wickets for himself and the team, as they are set to embark on the very crucial Test tour of Australia next month.

A look back at Ravindra Jadeja and Sanjay Manjrekar's ugly fight

Well, whenever Manjrekar speaks anything about Jadeja, it grabs attention very quickly given their past soured relationship. Actually, Manjrekar and Jadeja had an infamous and ugly spat on social media during the 2019 World Cup.

The controversy ignited when Manjrekar referred to Jadeja as a “bits and pieces” cricketer, for which he was slammed by the fans and even the star all-rounder himself. In response, Jadeja strongly criticized Manjrekar by saying, “Learn to respect people who have achieved. I have heard enough of your verbal diarrhea.”

Then there were many instances when they never missed a chance to slam and troll each other. However, Manjrekar himself took the step to amend things during the Asia Cup last year and since then has been involved in banter many times.