Sanjay Manjrekar is one of the most talented batters to play for India in the last 30 years. The unfortunate part is that he was not able to play a lot of international cricket. Sanjay Manjrekar played 37 Text Matches for India and he also played 74 ODIs for India. He scored 2043 runs in test cricket at an average of 37.15 with 4 hundreds and 1 double hundred as well. In the 74 ODIs that he played for India he made 1994 runs at an average of 33.23 with 1 hundred.
Let’s look at the Top 5 Best Innings of Sanjay Manjrekar:
1) 218* vs Pakistan (1989)
This double hundred against Pakistan is his best innings in international cricket and that too in Lahore. The Pakistani bowling attack had Wasim Akram, Imran Khan and Abdul Qadir among others. Sanjay Manjrekar played 401 balls in this innings and he hit 28 fours in this innings meaning a total of 112 runs in boundaries. He was not out meaning no bowler could get him out. He have a strike rate of 54 In this innings. This innings made him a big star in world cricket.
Check out here Best innings of Yuvraj Singh
2) 113* vs Pakistan (1989)
The second innings in this list is from the same series against Pakistan. It was the test match in Karachi and this brilliant Hundred came in the second innings. India needed 453 to win and Sanjay Manjrekar stepped up for India and he hit a brilliant 113* from 243 balls and even in this innings he was not dismissed. He hit 13 fours in this innings meaning 52 runs in boundaries. He had a strike rate of 46.50 and he ensured that India do not lose this match. Sanjay Manjrekar was in the form of his life in this test series vs Pakistan in which Sachin Tendulkar made his debut.
Check out here Best innings of Sourav Ganguly
3) 104 vs Zimbabwe (1992)
This has to be one of the most patient innings ever plated by an Indian In test cricket. This was against a very good Zimbabwe team and they had posted a big first innings score of over 450. And the Indian batting had no answers other than Sanjay Manjrekar. It was difficult to bat out there but he hung in there and made 104 from 422 balls. He took 4 times the number of balls to make 104. These types of innings are so rare in test cricket. He hit just 7 fours in this innings meaning 28 runs in boundaries. He had a strike rate of 24.64 which is truly unheard of. Sanjay Manjrekar again ensured that India did not lose this match.
Also check out Best innings of Sunil Gavaskar
4) 93 and 50 vs England (1990)
These 2 half centuries by Sanjay Manjrekar against England in England were more valuable than any century. Sanjay Manjrekar wanted to show the world that he can score runs outside of Asia. In the first batting innings for India, he made 93 great runs from 196 balls. He had a strike rate of 47.45 and in this innings he hit 12 fours meaning 48 runs in boundaries. Then in the second batting innings for India, he made another valuable 50 from just 77 balls and this was his fastest innings in test cricket. He hit 8 fours or 32 runs in boundaries . He had a strike rate of 65 in this innings. The match was a draw and he had a big role to play in it.
Also check out Best innings of Suresh Raina
5) 75* vs Sri Lanka (1991)
This was the best match winning knock by Sanjay Manjrekar in ODI cricket and this came at the iconic Eden Gardens. It was against the Sri Lankan bowling attack which had some of the best bowlers. India needed 205 runs to win and Sanjay Manjrekar hit an incredible 75* from just 95 balls. He hit just the 4 fours meaning 16 runs in boundaries in this innings. He had a strike rate of 79 and he was not out till the end and India won this match by 7 wickets and by 5 overs to spare.
Also Read: Best Gautam Gambhir innings
