‘Devastated’ Kerry O’Keeffe’s open letter to India

“Shocked” Fox Cricket commentator Kerry O’Keeffe has penned an open letter of apology to Indian cricket fans after an on-air joke went south.

Kerry O'Keeffe wrote a letter to Indian fans.

Fox Cricket commentator Kerry O’Keeffe has penned an open letter of apology to Indian cricket fans after receiving a heated reaction to a joke made between overs on day one in Melbourne.

The former Aussie spinner took a lighthearted swipe at debut opener 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 said before joking about a kitchen hand opening the bowling.

But Agarwal had O’Keeffe eating humble pie shortly after, tallying up a solid 76 on debut, the best effort against the new ball from India this series.

ESPN Cricinfo journalist Melinda Farrell tweeted out against O’Keeffe for his joke, which attracted a significant reaction from fans on social media.

It might just be me, but it’s pretty uncool to ridicule the FC comp of another country while using dubious stereotypes for a cheap laugh,” she said.

O’Keeffe’s letter, published in full on Fox Sports, revealed his family have been “shocked and saddened” by the reaction to his passing joke.

Kerry O'Keeffe wrote a letter to Indian fans.

“I accept that some fans may not always relate to my sense of humour — but missing the mark on a joke between overs is vastly different to what I’ve been accused of on Twitter and in some sections of the media in recent days,” O’Keeffe said.

Read the complete letter here

“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.”

“My family and I are shocked and saddened that so many have been upset ... the support of my fellow commentators over what has been a tough few days for me is truly appreciated.”

O’Keeffe’s letter came after an on-air apology during play on Boxing Day.

“I was mentioning the runs Agarwal got in first class cricket in India and there’s been a reaction,” he said. “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.”

Former Aussie batsman Mark Waugh also came under fire for comments made about India’s domestic league after he said averaging 50 with the bat in the subcontinent was like averaging 40 in Australia.

Waugh quickly bit back at fans on Twitter and applauded Agarwal’s effort on day one.

All I said was averaging 50 in first class cricket in India is equivalent to averaging 40 in Aust mainly because of the number of players who achieve that,” Waugh tweeted. “For the record, Agarwal played very well in his 1st test innings.”