NEW DELHI: A commentary moment sparked major controversy during the first ODI between India and New Zealand on Sunday. Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar worked as a commentator. He was part of the Hindi commentary panel. During the game, he referred to Hindi as the “national language of India”. The comment quickly drew criticism. The incident occurred in the 13th over of the match. India had won the toss and decided to bowl first. Washington Sundar I threw that out the window. Wicketkeeper KL Rahul seemed unhappy with Washington’s pace.
Former fast bowler Varun Aaron was also there as a commentator. He mentioned that KL Rahul and Washington Sundar spoke in Tamil. Aaron said that KL Washington said that he bowls at the pace of a medium pacer. After this, Varun asked Aaron a question on air. He wondered if Washington Sundar understands Tamil better. At this point, Sanjay Bangar agreed and said he believed in Hindi and went on to call Hindi the “national language of India”. Shortly after the comment, there was backlash on social media. Many fans reacted violently. Several users pointed out that India does not have a national language. Hindi is one of the official languages of India. Many accused Bangar of making a factual error. During the game, the topic started trending online. While the debate continued off the field, the game continued. New Zealand posted a strong overall result. Daryl Mitchell played a key role and scored 84 points on offense. As a result, New Zealand reached 300 for 8 points. India’s bowlers struck at regular intervals. Mohammed Siraj took two wickets. Harshit Rana took two wickets. Prasidh Krishna also picked up two wickets. New Zealand’s opening games started well. Devon Conway scored 56. Henry Nicholls scored 62 points. The pair added 117 runs. Harshit Rana broke the partnership. He fired Nicholls. He then bowled a delivery to Conway in the next over. Siraj removed Will Young for 12. Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Glenn Phillips for 12. Prasidh Krishna bowled Mitchell Hay for 18. Daryl Mitchell remained quiet. He registered another strong ODI knock. He was dismissed after a direct hit from Shreyas Iyer. Debutant Kristian Clarke remained unbeaten on matchday 24. The ODI series will be followed by five T20 matches. The games lead into the T20 World Cup, which will be played in India and Sri Lanka.
