Tamil Nadu coach Sulakshan Kulkarni blaming skipper R Sai Kishore for his side's loss in the Ranji Trophy semifinal against Mumbai left Dinesh Karthik fuming.
"I always speak straightforward — we lost the match at 9’o clock on Day One. Everything was set, we won the toss, as a coach, as a Mumbaikar, I know the conditions well. We should have bowled but the captain had some different instinct."
"Ultimately, he is the boss. I can give my feedback and inputs (as to) what kind of wickets and Mumbai’s mindset also. (From) 106/7, I knew before the match that this (Mumbai’s fightback) may happen,” said Kulkarni.
Following that DK took to social media and slammed the coach. "This is soo WRONG. This is so disappointing from the coach ..instead of backing the captain who has brought the team to the semis after 7 yrs and thinking it's a start for good things to happen, the coach has absolutely thrown his captain and team under the bus," said Karthik on X.
In what turned out to be a surprising call which prompted reactions including those from R Ashwin and Saurashtra’s Jaydev Unadkat, Sai Kishore put his side in to bat first on a seaming wicket which had Tamil Nadu reeling at 42/5 inside the first session.
Tamil Nadu could never recover as they were shot out for paltry totals of 146 and 162 in the two innings as Mumbai stormed into the final for the 48th time in the Ranji Trophy.