nCommentator Sanjay Manjrekar is more often than not in the news for his comments over various cricketers. This time around he has managed to spark a new debate on social media, if off-spinner R Ashwin is an all-time great or not. Many do not agree with Manjrekar, including the likes of Dinesh Karthik and Abhinav Mukund, while Curtly Ambrose is of the opinion that ‘greatness’ is used rather loosely in today’s times.
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“We all have our different opinions. We all look at greatness in different ways. Sanjay Manjrekar was a wonderful cricketer in his time. He has his opinion of that, we all have our views. But, how do you define greatness? That is a good question," he said on the Curtly & Karishma Show.
“Because sometimes, to be quite fair, we use the word greatness loosely. So, we have to be careful with how we define greatness. According to me, greatness is when a player can be very consistent over a period of time, for years, not one or two years,” he added.
Manjrekar in his argument said that Ashwin has not performed consistently in the SENA countries, and as far as India is concerned, the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel have matched or bettered his wicket-taking abilities. Hence, the tag should not be associated with Ashwin.
Meanwhile, this is what Ambrose had to say: “Some guys can come into international cricket, and for two or three years, set the world on fire. And, for the next six to seven years, they do nothing. You cannot really judge on the first two or three years. It is over a period of time, through a whole career. At the end of your career, you can be judged if you were great or good or average," he explained.
R Ashwin, for the record is the second-fastest player to 400 Test wickets, after Muttiah Muralitharan. He has 409 wickets in 78 Tests.
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