“My father being a well-known cricketer, is both a boon and a curse!”, says Sanjay Manjrekar
Sanjay Manjrekar opened up to Sandeep Patil on the show, ‘Taste Match’, about the pressures that he feels of being the son of a widely-known cricketer, Vijay Manjrekar; and how the constant comparison, during his Ranji career, to his father made it a ‘raw deal’ for him. He says, “It was both a boon and a curse!”
Sanjay recollects the time he met his role model and a deity of cricket, Sunil Gavaskar. He narrated a heartfelt incident when he was playing on-ground and suddenly got called by his father saying, “Sunil is waiting for you! To my surprise, I saw the legend himself standing there with a Harrows Bat, smiling at me. He told me that it was my father’s idea to get the bat for me from England. This bat had left me awestruck and has stayed with me ever since.” On a more emotional note, Manjrekar shares how cricket has been a circle of life for him when he says, “Young cricketers replace us in the same way we had once replaced our seniors”.
The duo was later joined by Harsha Bhogle, the man who put India on the world map of commentators. Over a lip-smacking dish of Pad Thai Noodles, Harsha shared his journey as a commentator and how his father’s advice paved way for his niche success. He says, “I came home to two chairs, where my father asked me to sit with him. He then told me that he’s been watching me play, and that he thought that I had played as much as I could. He advised me to combine my story-telling skill with my knowledge in cricket to use it to my advantage!“ Harsha experienced his first brush with AIR Hyderabad and got the chance to pursue commentary professionally for U-19.
Talking about the turning point in his career, Harsha tells Sandeep about his visit to Australia in the early 90s as a commentator. He was awestruck because they would earnestly disagree while the commentary continued, and that affected their personal relationships. The trio bid adieu in a light-hearted moment, when they hummed to the foot-tapping tunes of Rang Barsee and Teri Bindiya Re.
Catch these storytellers unravel interesting anecdotes and stories on Sandeep Patil’s show, ‘Taste Match’, which airs every Saturday and Sunday on Living Foodz and &TV.
