The former Australian cricketer-turned-commentator Kerry O’ Keeffe took a swipe at Indian debutant Mayank Agarwal, suggesting he’d scored his maiden first-class triple century against “canteen staff” in India.
“Apparently he got the triple against the Railways canteen staff,” O’Keeffe had said between over during the recently concluded Boxing Day Test match between India and Australia in Melbourne.
The following day, the former Test cricketer went on to make another "ill-timed" joke about the difficulty in pronouncing names of players like Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja. 
But little did he know that his comments would invite the ire of Indian fans who took a full swing at Mr O’Keefe on social media, some even asking for his eviction.
Fox commentator Kerry O'Keeffe writes an open letter to Indian fans Source: AP
‘Devastated’ by the negative reactions, Mr O’Keeffe has now penned an open letter to the fans stressing that his comments were mere ‘tongue in cheek’ and were not intended to ‘disrespect Indian cricket’.
“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.”
“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,” the Fox commentator wrote in the letter.
Clarifying his comments on the pronunciation of the players’ names, the 69-year-old wrote that the joke was in fact directed at his own self.
“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.”
“There was no intention to ridicule those two wonderful players and I am horrified by any suggestion to the contrary,” he added.
Returning the gesture, the Indian team’s national bowling coach, Bharat Arun confirmed that the team will not be filing an official complaint against Mr O’Keeffe.
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