During the second Test between India and Australia, Mark Waugh and Dinesh Karthik engaged in a verbal altercation on television. The former cricketers are part of the commentary panel for the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
For the course of the second Test match, they held opposing viewpoints. Waugh expressed his displeasure with the field that Australia captain Pat Cummins had chosen for Cheteshwar Pujara. But, the former Australian opener was irritated by Karthik’s back-to-back counter-questions.
Waugh stated that instead of a deep point for Pujara, Cummins should have brought the fielder within the circle to pack the off side during the fourth innings of the second Test.
After Mark’s comments, Dinesh Karthik stated, “So you’re displeased with the field. No one is available for Rohit Sharma, and you are fine with it. Would you act similarly as captain?”
The former Australian opener then responded, “I’m not referring to Rohit Sharma; he’s an entirely other guy, DK.” Clearly, we have opposing views. But I want to pack that off side for Pujara because I believe he has a good chance of squeezing one there.”
“I want to pack that offside, have my point up, and have the catching cover remain in place… a decent field,” he added.
Mark Waugh to Dinesh Karthik: “I had no idea this was a press conference.”
“Do you really believe he would have detected the trap in that one? He had time,” Dinesh Karthik remarked.
Waugh, seeming angered by Karthik, stated, “I didn’t realise this was a press conference. You will receive one question per session, correct?”
But before the situation could have gotten out of hand, Sanjay Manjrekar stepped in and said, “All right, I’ll step in here.”
India’s dominance continues
India won the second Test by six wickets against Australia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Australia chose to bat first after winning the toss. In their first innings, the visitors scored 263 runs while India scored 262. In their second innings, the Cummins-led team’s batting lineup disintegrated as they were dismissed for 113 runs. Rohit Sharma and company easily won the match and retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after chasing a score of 115.