MELBOURNE: Under-fire Australia cricketer-turned-commentator Kerry O'Keeffe on Sunday penned an open letter to Indian fanatics and gamers, apologising for his controversial feedback made all through the just-concluded Boxing Day Test here.
Responding to the flak he won for his racist jokes on Indian gamers made on air all through the process the Boxing Day Test between India and Australia, O'Keeffe said his jokes were interpreted wrongly and he never had the goal to "disrespect" Indian cricket.
READ ALSO: Our first class cricket is amazing which is why we won: Kohli
O'Keeffe said he used to be "devastated" by means of the response to his on-air feedback which are being labelled distasteful and even racist by means of a section of Indian fanatics and the media.
"I have been devastated by the reaction to my on-air comments on Fox Cricket during the recently completed third Test between Australia and India. I am coming to terms with how negatively those words have been interpreted," he wrote in his open letter.
"That interpretation is not who I am. It is not what I represent. My style as a commentator is to attempt to find a quirky view to lighten up some of the serious analysis."
The veteran commentator had kicked up a hurricane when he said that debutant Mayank Agarwal's Ranji Trophy triple ton will have come against "Jalandhar Railway canteen staff" and that the said opposition had bowlers who were "chefs and waiters".
"When I made a remark about Indian first-class batting averages within their domestic cricket competition being made against a 'canteen' bowling attack, I was being entirely tongue in cheek," O'Keeffe wrote in his letter.
"I was certainly not disrespecting Indian cricket, where I toured as a schoolboy and for which I have the greatest admiration as a cricketing nation," he added.
O'Keeffe also came beneath attack after he mocked the names of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja on air in what used to be a distasteful comic story about the problem he confronted in saying the names of Indian gamers.
"I pride myself on doing extensive research before a match and when I stumbled over the names of Pujara and Jadeja on Day Four, I took a swipe at myself for getting them wrong," he wrote.
"There was no intention to ridicule those two wonderful players and I am horrified by any suggestion to the contrary. I had spent months researching and analysing these two players and when the moment arrived, I stuffed it up. The joke was on me."
O'Keeffe's feedback also didn't go down neatly with India trainer Ravi Shastri, bowling trainer Bharat Arun and skipper Virat Kohli.
Responding to the flak he won for his racist jokes on Indian gamers made on air all through the process the Boxing Day Test between India and Australia, O'Keeffe said his jokes were interpreted wrongly and he never had the goal to "disrespect" Indian cricket.
READ ALSO: Our first class cricket is amazing which is why we won: Kohli
O'Keeffe said he used to be "devastated" by means of the response to his on-air feedback which are being labelled distasteful and even racist by means of a section of Indian fanatics and the media.
"I have been devastated by the reaction to my on-air comments on Fox Cricket during the recently completed third Test between Australia and India. I am coming to terms with how negatively those words have been interpreted," he wrote in his open letter.
"That interpretation is not who I am. It is not what I represent. My style as a commentator is to attempt to find a quirky view to lighten up some of the serious analysis."
The veteran commentator had kicked up a hurricane when he said that debutant Mayank Agarwal's Ranji Trophy triple ton will have come against "Jalandhar Railway canteen staff" and that the said opposition had bowlers who were "chefs and waiters".
"When I made a remark about Indian first-class batting averages within their domestic cricket competition being made against a 'canteen' bowling attack, I was being entirely tongue in cheek," O'Keeffe wrote in his letter.
"I was certainly not disrespecting Indian cricket, where I toured as a schoolboy and for which I have the greatest admiration as a cricketing nation," he added.
O'Keeffe also came beneath attack after he mocked the names of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja on air in what used to be a distasteful comic story about the problem he confronted in saying the names of Indian gamers.
"I pride myself on doing extensive research before a match and when I stumbled over the names of Pujara and Jadeja on Day Four, I took a swipe at myself for getting them wrong," he wrote.
"There was no intention to ridicule those two wonderful players and I am horrified by any suggestion to the contrary. I had spent months researching and analysing these two players and when the moment arrived, I stuffed it up. The joke was on me."
O'Keeffe's feedback also didn't go down neatly with India trainer Ravi Shastri, bowling trainer Bharat Arun and skipper Virat Kohli.
O'Keeffe pens open apology letter to Indian fans and players
![O'Keeffe pens open apology letter to Indian fans and players]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
December 30, 2018
Rating:
