Sanjay Manjrekar: A rare voice of dissent among elite sportspersons?

• Manjrekar criticises restrictions on peaceful protests as a threat to democratic freedoms.

• His public interventions on political and social issues contrast with the reticence of many leading sportspersons.

• His blunt criticism of Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli has repeatedly divided opinion.

Sanjay Manjrekar, the former Test cricketer turned television pundit, has often rubbed Indian cricket’s so-called A-listers the wrong way with his blunt outspokenness. He has paid a price for his plain-speaking, having been dropped from commentary panels from time to time, but the 61-year-old has weathered the controversies so far.

At a time when his peers and the so-called idols of Indian cricket have remained silent on alleged police atrocities and the manner in which Delhi was placed under siege to quell demands for chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, Manjrekar posted a cryptic message on X over the weekend: ‘Peaceful protests is a democratic activity. Last time I heard India was a democratic country.’

It was a pointed comment that made his position clear. Significantly, this was not the first time the Mumbaikar had spoken out. In July, when the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) was agitating for the resignation of then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan in the wake of NEET paper leaks and student suicides, Manjrekar was equally vocal.

‘It’s not just about NEET paper leaks,’ he said, describing the agitation instead as ‘a revolt against feeling generally suppressed in a democracy & the mainstream media’s brainwashing’.

The NEET paper leak controversy had, on that occasion, prompted several leading sportspersons to lend their support to the cause. They included the usually reticent Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, India’s first individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra and double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker. While most stopped short of directly addressing the alleged corruption behind the leaks — Tendulkar, for instance, said, ‘Failure is okay, cheating is not. Never take shortcuts’ — Manjrekar left little room for ambiguity.

What is it about Manjrekar that sets him apart as a plain-speaking voice in Indian sport? The record suggests that elite sportspersons in India have generally been reluctant to speak out on contentious issues, whether it was the 2023 protest by women wrestlers against former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who faced allegations of sexual harassment, or the rape and murder of a junior doctor on duty in Kolkata in 2024. The wrestlers’ agitation eventually attracted considerable support, but sporting celebrities have generally remained wary of ruffling feathers.

In an ecosystem where some of the biggest names in the commentary box are perceived to be beholden to the BCCI and reluctant to criticise cricketing superstars or the establishment, the Mumbai batter has repeatedly risked professional blowback. This has polarised opinion about him, with some admiring his courage and others dismissing him as overly cynical.

From describing Ravindra Jadeja as a ‘bits-and-pieces cricketer’ during the 2019 ICC World Cup — a remark widely criticised as unfair — to his more recent comments on Virat Kohli, Manjrekar has rarely shied away from controversy.

He recently said Kohli was ‘very sensitive to criticism’ and tended to keep track of ‘what’s being said about him’.

Manjrekar elaborated: ‘So he’s (Kohli) one of those first guys who kept saying, you know, we don’t care about what people say… but he’s also very sensitive.’ He added that criticism could actually motivate Kohli and ‘spur him on to get that next big hundred’.

Like him or loathe him, Manjrekar remains one of a kind.