Curtly Ambrose opens up on Sanjay Manjrekar’s ‘not an all-time great’ comment

Cricketer-turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar is in news currently for his verdict on ‘all-time great’ and has gone as far as saying that India’s premier off-spinner Ravi Ashwin does not fall into the category yet. The comment from former India right-hand batter has triggered a huge debate on various platforms with fans and experts calling Ashwin a modern-day legend.

The off-spinner received support from his Tamil Nadu teammates Abhinav Mukand and Dinesh Karthik and now former West Indies cricketer Curtly Ambrose has his say on the debate which is currently generating a lot of heat from all the quarters.

The legendary former pace bowler feels that the term ‘greatness’ is used rather loosely nowadays and everyone has a different perspective as to how to define the term.

“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.

Curtly Ambrose’s unique explanation on the term ‘Greatness’

Ambrose further pointed out that the term greatness cannot be defined by a player’s performance in one or two years. The player has to carry forward and sustain it five to six years and then only a cricketer can be labeled as a great player. The former pace bowler also stated that the player should have the ability to win games on their own and create a positive impact on the team.

“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’s point of view on why Ashwin is not yet an ‘all-time great’, came from the fact that the off-spinner is yet to take a five-wicket haul in the SENA countries – South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia. The former Mumbai batsman also pointed out that Ravindra Jadeja has excelled in home conditions by taking wickets regularly.