World Cup 2019: Rohit Sharma opens up on Ravindra Jadeja-Sanjay Manjrekar controversy

What's the story?

Vice-captain of Indian Cricket Team, Rohit Sharma has opened up on the controversy between Ravindra Jadeja and Sanjay Manjrekar. The star player has preferred to stay neutral by not favouring anyone and stated that it is Jadeja’s individual battle.

He even stated that a cricketer should try to keep himself away from the off-field controversies and should focus only on the game.

In case you didn't know...

Sanjay Manjrekar has been in the news because of his biased comments on the cricketers during the course of the World Cup. His comments have involved him in unnecessary controversies, with the one involving Ravindra Jadeja being the latest. The former Indian batsman called Jadeja a ‘bits and pieces’ player.

However, Ravindra Jadeja did not stay calm and chose to reply to Manjrekar on Twitter where the former advised the latter to respect the players.

The heart of the matter

Rohit Sharma spoke about this controversy in the post-match conference of the match between India and Sri Lanka. The Indian opener voiced out his opinion as follows:

"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 Sharma further stated that the team's job is to come and out play good cricket. Instead of focusing on off-field controversies, The Hitman feels the cricketers should focus on the job at hand.

You can watch Rohit Sharma's statement on this controversy around the 22-minute mark:

What's next?

Ravindra Jadeja would hope to focus on the World Cup as India has successfully qualified for the semifinals. The Indian team will meet New Zealand in the first semi-final at Old Trafford, Manchester on Tuesday.

Also see – India vs New Zealand head to head stats

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