"Want To Stay Away, Enjoy Weather": Rohit Sharma On Ravindra Jadeja-Sanjay Manjrekar Spat

Rohit Sharma scored a record fifth century in the ongoing World Cup 2019 as India defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets to claim the top position in the points table at Headingley on Saturday. In the post-match press conference, the Indian vice-captain was asked his opinion on the recent spat between all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and former batsman Sanjay Manjrekar and his "bits and pieces cricketer" remark. Rohit Sharma chose to stay neutral and said each person reacts differently to different situations.

"See, that's the challenge for the sportsman. All this distraction will happen, but every individual is different, and it depends on how he wants to think about that particular incident or situation. For me, like I said just now, I want to stay away from all of that and enjoy the beautiful weather in England," Rohit said. 

"I have my family here as well. So most of the time I'm trying to do that rather than all those talks going around and things like that. Because as long as you're playing, that will happen. And we have to have a logistic manager because a lot of people are staying in the same hotel as us who want us to win the World Cup, who want us to score runs, score centuries. 

"So you kind of want to stay away from all of that because eventually our job is to do that, our job is to come here, play good cricket and win the World Cup, we all know that. But constantly yapping in anyone's ear is not right. So I think for us as cricketers, it's important to focus on the job at hand," he explained.

Speaking to IANS, Manjrekar had said on the eve of the Bangladesh game that he still wanted to back Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav despite their poor outing against England. 

"I am not a big fan of bits and pieces players which Jadeja is at this point of his career in 50-over cricket. In Test matches, he is a pure bowler. But in 50-over cricket, I would rather have a batsman and a spinner," Manjrekar was quoted as saying by IANS on July 1 (Monday).

Reacting to this, Jadeja asked the expert to learn to respect people.

"Still I have played twice the number of matches you have played and I m still playing. Learn to respect people who have achieved. I have heard enough of your verbal diarrhea. @sanjaymanjrekar," Jadeja tweeted.

Still i have played twice the number of matches you have played and i m still playing. Learn to respect ppl who have achieved.i have heard enough of your verbal diarrhoea.@sanjaymanjrekar

— Ravindrasinh jadeja (@imjadeja) July 3, 2019

Manjrekar did change his opinion on Saturday during the India-Sri Lanka game and called him a street-smart cricketer as he returned with figures of 1/40 and played a crucial role in restricting Sri Lanka to 264/7.

(With IANS inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Rohit Sharma Ravindra Jadeja Sanjay Manjrekar World Cup 2019 Cricket Sri Lanka vs India, Match 44