Daijiworld Media Network - Sports
Sydney, Jan 3: As a mark of protest against an Australian commentator for apparently insulting Indian cricketer Mayank Agarwal's batting average during third Cricket Test match between Australia and India at Melbourne, his commentary has been blacked out by Sony Pictures Limited, the live Test Cricket broadcaster for India.
The former Aussie bowler Kerry O'Keefe who is part of the commentary panel for Fox Cricket in Australia, irritated huge Indian fans across the world through his live commentary, "Apparently, he (Mayank Agarwal) got the triple hundred against the Railways canteen staff," he said while Mark Waugh spoke about how a domestic average of 50 in India will be 40 in Australia.
However after backlash, O'Keefe later apologized for his unsavory comment.
"I was mentioning the runs Agarwal got in first-class cricket in India and there's been a reaction. There was no way I was demeaning the standard, it was tongue in cheek. There are lots of runs scored, so apologies if anyone out there took offence," he said.
But Sony TV has decided to black-out his commentary while using live feeds from Fox Sports and instead has arranged commentary by its own team from Mumbai studio for 30 minutes.
Earlier, O'Keefe on fourth day had once again made fun of not being able to pronounce the first names of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja.
"Why would you name your kid Cheteshwar Jadeja," O'Keefe commented.
Earlier, India's bowling India's head coach Ravi Shastri, bowing coach Bharat Arun on Saturday had made it clear that the team wasn't happy with the kind of commentary.
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