By leaving Sai Sudharsan and Virat Kohli off of his list of IPL “batters that matter,” Sanjay Manjrekar has given supporters yet more reason to criticize his analysis.
Sanjay Manjrekar, who frequently sparks discussions on social media with his remarks in the commentary panel or posts on X (previously Twitter), gave supporters yet more reason to doubt his “bias” on Saturday. Manjrekar, who is notorious for speaking his mind, posted a contentious analysis on social media, compiling a list of “batters that matter” based only on the players’ current Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 results. Even though Virat Kohli, Sai Sudharsan, and Aiden Markram are among the leading run scorers this season, Manjrekar made the surprising decision to leave them off the list.”The only list that counts when it comes to hitting. Manjrekar posted a list of batters who had amassed at least 250 runs this season at a strike-rate of at least 153 along with the caption, “Big runs with great SR so far.” The following batters were on the list:
Pooran: 377 runs SR 205
Priyansh Arya: 254 runs SR 202
Shreyas: 263 runs SR 185
Surya: 373 runs SR 167
Buttler: 356 runs SR 166
Mitchell Marsh: 344 runs SR 161
Travis Head: 261 runs SR 159
Klassen: 288 runs SR 157
KL Rahul: 323 runs SR 154
Gill: 305 runs SR 153
When it comes to batting only list that matters.Big runs with great SR so far.
Pooran : 377 runs SR 205
Priyansh Arya : 254 runs SR 202
Shreyas : 263 runs SR 185
Surya : 373 runs SR 167
Buttler : 356 runs SR 166
Mitchell Marsh : 344 runs SR 161
Travis Head: 261 runs SR…
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) April 26, 2025
The top 10 run scorers this season included Virat Kohli, Sai Sudharsan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Aiden Markram, among other notable batsmen that were left off of Manjrekar’s list. However, their strike-rates were considered insufficient for “batters that matter” because they were marginally below the “criteria” Manjrekar had set.With 417 runs at a 52.13 average and a 152.18 strike rate, Sudharshan is now the Orange Cap holder in the IPL 2025. However, with 392 runs this season, Kohli is second on the list of top run-getters with a strike rate of 144.11. To date, Markram has amassed 326 runs with a 150.92 strike rate. It was extremely perplexing for fans to see this trio excluded off Manjrekar’s list given how well they had performed this season.
