Published 17:36 IST, February 14th 2020
BCCI commentator apologises on-air for infamous 'Every Indian should speak Hindi' rant
Rajinder Amarnath made the statement came during Baroda’s second innings when the on-air commentators were talking about Sunil Gavaskar’s commentary.
- SportFit
- 3 min read
A major controversy erupted on Thursday during the Ranji Trophy match between Karnataka and Baroda when a commentator sparked controversy on-air by claiming that 'Every Indian should speak Hindi'. The man in the middle of the storm was Rajinder Amarnath, who made the statement came during Baroda’s second innings when he was talking about Sunil Gavaskar’s Hindi commentary. His comment kicked up a storm on social media with several fans questioning his statement.
Ranji Trophy controversy: Rajinder Amarnath gives clarification about the statement
Rajinder Amarnath, who is legendary cricketer Mohinder Amarnath's brother, had said that every Indian must know Hindi. This is our mother tongue. There is no bigger language than this, while another commentator Sushil Doshi agreeing with him. After the end of the day's play, Amarnath and Doshi were both asked about their comments to which Amarnath first questioned that if Hindi is not the mother tongue of the country, then what is.
He later admitted that the use of language during his commentary was misplaced, as he meant to say that every Indian 'could' know Hindi rather than should. Doshi, in his clarification, compared the use of English in England to Hindi in India and the need to know and respect Hindi.
Karnataka vs Baroda Ranji Trophy live score
A patient half-century from Karun Nair and handy contributions from Ravikumar Samarth and KV Siddharth helped Karnataka clinch an 8-wicket win over Baroda at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru as part of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20. Needing to chase down a tricky 149-run target, Karnataka's opening pair of Devdutt Padikkal and Samarth started cautiously and played out the first five overs from the pace bowling duo of Soyeb Sopariya and Abhimanyu Rajput. Karnataka needed just 52 runs with 8 wickets in hand. Nair got to his half-century off 99 balls. Nair and Siddharth collected the odd boundaries and threaded the gaps as eventually, the duo's 92-run partnership helped Karnataka clinch a comfortable 8-wicket win.
Updated 17:36 IST, February 14th 2020