IPL 2020: Star Sports reveal names of their English and Hindi commentators; Sanjay Manjrekar excluded

The much-awaited 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) is all set to get underway from September 19 with the first match between defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) and runners-up Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi. The T20 extravaganza featuring 56 fixtures among eight franchises will be played across three venues in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) namely Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

With the cash-rich league less than a week away, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and IPL’s official broadcasting partners Star India has decided on the names of the commentators for both Hindi and English commentary panels. On Saturday (September 12), the official Twitter handle of Star Sports named a few Indian and foreigner commentators who would be gracing the commentary panel in the upcoming edition.

Replying to a query of a fan, Star Sports tweeted, “Hi! Here are the #Dream11IPL 2020 commentators. English – Sunil Gavaskar, Harsha Bhogle, Deep Dasgupta, Ian Bishop, Murali Kartik, and Danny Morrison to name a few. Hindi – Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Jatin Sapru, Nikhil Chopra and Sanjay Bangar.

Sanjay Manjrekar has been a part of the commentary panel since IPL’s inception

One notable omission from the list of Indian commentators is former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar. Notably, Manjrekar has been a part of the commentary panel since the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League that took place in 2008.

The former right-handed batsman, who has represented India in 37 Tests and 74 ODIs, had a fall out with BCCI after being involved in a verbal battle with Ravindra Jadeja as he called him a ‘bits and pieces’ cricketer on social media before India’s exit from the World Cup last year. Also, his verbal battle with the on-air commentator Harsha Bhogle during the Pink Test against Bangladesh last year was criticised.

In the month of August, Manjrekar had written an email to the BCCI and had offered his apologies. He had also requested the authorities to reinstate him as the commentator for the 2020 edition of the cash-rich league. However, looks like the cricket board is not in a mood to rehire him and he is likely to miss being in the commentary panel of IPL for the first time.