Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018-19: Manoj Tiwary slams Sanjay Manjrekar for sending a wrong message

The recent encounter between Bengal and Jharkhand in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy has created quite a bit of controversy. The result of the game was decided on the basis of the VJD method due to the bad light. The match was interestingly set up when the light factor came into play and Jharkhand eventually won the game by just two runs. The second innings went on for a lot of time, precisely, 4 hours and 18 minutes, which irked Sanjay Manjrekar as he slammed Bengal for the slow over rate.

Chasing down the total of 268 runs, Jharkhand rode on Anand Singh’s century who scored 118 runs. But some late wickets put them in trouble. After 49 overs, they were stuck at 264/9 and needed four runs to win the match. But the officials decided to call off the match with the fast-degrading light. The VJD method was applied and the chasing side was declared the winners by only two runs.

Sanjay Manjrekar wasn’t pleased a bit with the way such an exhilarating contest ended and pointed out that the slow over rate played a part in Bengal’s loss in the end. “Vijay Hazare match between Bengal & Jharkhand could not be completed. Had to be decided by VJD method. Why? Fading light. Why? Slow over rates! Bowling team took 4 hours 18 minutes to bowl their 50 overs,” he tweeted.

Tiwary’s response

Bengal skipper Manoj Tiwary though was irked after reading his tweet and slammed him for the same. He first suggested the former Indian cricketer to ask both the team management over what transpired in the middle before commenting anything on the slow over rates.

Tiwary explained further that the venue (T I Murugappa Ground, Chennai) where the match was played had jungle around it which made it really tough to find the ball once it went inside. The hot weather in Chennai also played its part during the whole day and the fact that Anand Singh, the centurion, was playing with cramps didn’t help their cause.

The physio had to attend him in the ground and a lot of time was wasted in it. There was also an issue with the bat of the same batsman as the match referees pointed out that his bat’s blade was more than the actual measurement and eventually, after scoring 70 odd runs, he was advised to change his bat. Also, Anand had to be taken out of the ground finally after frequent interruptions which led to a lot of delays and didn’t work for Bengal.

All the delays were either due to opposition batsmen or the ground issues according to Tiwary and he expressed his disappointment over Manjrekar’s tweet. The Bengal skipper also opined that all the factors went against them and they lost the match.

Here are Tiwary’s series of tweets:

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