Murali Vijay Slams Sanjay Manjrekar for Forgetting Achievements of South India Players During IND vs AUS 1st Test

Former Indian cricketer Murali Vijay, who comes from Tamil Nadu in India, did not mince his words when he was criticising commentator Sanjay Manjrekar for his bias towards players who come from same state as his. Vijay took to twitter and wrote: "Some Mumbai ex players can never be appreciative of the south." Vijay also tagged Manjrekar in the tweet to ensure his criticism was not vague. Manjrekar apparently was surprised to see Vijay's name in the list of India batters who had best conversion rate batting in India. Vijay sits atop with 60 percent conversion rate. In 30 matches, he has 6 fifties and 9 tons batting in India. Conversion rate is how well a batter converts a start into a big score. Here the parameter was a minimum of ten 50-plus scores.

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Even Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, former spinner who too belongs to Tamil Nadu, criticised Manjrekar. He replied to Vijay: "Why surprised Sanjay Manjrekar? There was a time when Vijay and Pujara had the highest partnership average for the top order. Interesting comment."

Some Mumbai ex players can never be appreciative of the south ! #showsomelove #equality #fairplayforall @sanjaymanjrekar@BCCI — Murali Vijay (@mvj888) February 10, 2023

Context:
Manjrekar said surprised to see Vijay in the list.#INDvsAUS #BorderGavaskarTrophy https://t.co/kuXWIwY0mp pic.twitter.com/JyXueS9aWk — Nihit (@Proteinxxx_) February 10, 2023

Why surprised Sanjay Manjrekar? There was a time when Vijay and Pujara had the highest partnership average for the top order. Interesting comment. — Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (@LaxmanSivarama1) February 10, 2023

Vijay recently retired from all forms of cricket with 3982 runs in 61 Test matches that included 15 fifties and 12 tons. He was averaged 38.29. 

This is not the first time an Indian cricketer, former or current, has reacted strongly to one of Manjrekar's comments on air. Back in 2019, Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja had slammed Manjrekar, asking him to stop his 'verbal diarrhoea'. It was in reaction to Manjrekar calling Jadeja a 'bits and pieces cricketer' in white-ball cricket. Last year, during Asia Cup, Manjrekar and Jadeja became friends again when the commetator politely asked the all-rounder if he was okay to speak to him in the presentation ceremony. The question broke the ice and Jadeja smiled and said that he was ready to do the interview. 

Hopefully a peace treaty is signed soon between Manjrekar and Vijay too.