Mark Waugh’s two-year-old ‘4-0’ whitewash prediction thrown back in his face

Mark Waugh has been forced to eat his words after a prediction he made last time India toured Australia was thrown back in his face.

If there’s one thing you need to know about cricket fans, they have long memories.

It’s a lesson Aussie cricket great Mark Waugh has learned the hard way after his own words were thrown back in his face, two years after he said them.

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India got off to a flyer after Australia were bowled out for 177 on day one of the first Test.

Racing to 0/15 in the third over, when Dinesh Karthik said: “I’m coming in early to make a prediction, I strongly feel India will bat once and only once in this Test match.”

Mark Waugh replied: “We’ll see about that DK, we’ll see about that.

“It’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be a stroll in the park out there just to come out there and carve it to all parts.”

You can’t get every prediction right.

But despite it being a very early call, Karthik said Australia had been its own worst enemy. “But in the same breath, I don’t think it’s as tough as the Aussie batters made it out to be either,” Karthik said.

While Waugh still gave Australia hope, he said it was good to make bold predictions because when you get it right “then everybody remembers it”.

Unfortunately for Waugh, it’s not only when you get it right.

Soon after the exchange, Ravi Shastri, who was then the coach the last time India toured Australia in 2020/21, said: “I remember a prediction he made when we were 36 all out in Adelaide in Australia when he said ‘India will get hammered 4-0’. Keep predicting Mark!”

Waugh said: “I probably wasn’t the only one predicting that though. I can’t actually remember that prediction either Ravi just quietly. I don’t remember myself saying that.”

Got that one wrong Junior. Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

But he definitely did, as social media users quickly found.

After the first Test in Adelaide where Australia claimed an eight-wicket win, Waugh said of India’s chances at the time: “No hope. I thought Adelaide was the Test that they could win on paper and with Virat Kohli here for just the one Test. I thought the conditions would suit them. I just can’t see how they can bounce back (after) Australia whitewashed them on the third day. So ‘no’ is the answer – 4-0 to Australia.”

It was just the start of India’s sensational comeback as the visitors won the Boxing Day Test, drawing in Sydney and pulling off a remarkable win on the final day at the Gabba.

After 15 overs, India were 0/49, looking relatively untroubled by the Aussie attack.