“I Didn’t Know It Was Press Conference”: Mark Waugh Angry In On-Air Spat With Dinesh Karthik

Former Australia captain Mark Waugh got into a spat with India’s out-of-favour player Dinesh Karthik on Sunday. Both the former internationals – who are part of the official broadcaster’s commentary panel for the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy – differed with each other in their opinion. It all started with Waugh’s dissatisfaction with the field set by Australia captain Pat Cummins during the fourth innings of the second Test match between India and Australia in New Delhi. Waugh’s back-and-forth questions from Karthik irked the Australian star before he lost his temper and Sanjay Manjrekar had to intervene to calm things down.

Waugh said that instead of a deep point for Pujara, Cummins should have brought the fielder closer to the batsman to pack the off side.

To this Karthik questioned: “So you’re unhappy off the field. There’s no one for Rohit Sharma, you’re fine with it. Will you do the same as a captain?”

Mark Waugh replied: “I am not talking about Rohit Sharma, he is a completely different player DK.”

“…we obviously think differently.. but I want to pack that off side for Pujara, looks like there’s a big chance to squeeze one in,” Waugh said.

He said, “I want to pack that offside, my point is up there, the catching cover has to be there… fair area.”

Karthik did not hold back and said: “Really, you don’t think he would have found the trap in that. He had time.”

Angered by Karthik’s counter-questions, Waugh said: “I didn’t know it was a press conference. You get a question in every session, don’t you?”

Then Sanjay Manjrekar stopped Waugh in the middle. “Okay, I’m going to step in here,” said the former India cricketer and read out the score.

On the sporting front, India beat Australia by six wickets in the Delhi Test to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series. Chasing a target of 115 runs in the fourth innings, the Rohit Sharma-led team reached home comfortably thanks to Cheteshwar Pujara’s unbeaten 31 runs.

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