While serving his role as a commentator during the World Test Championship final between India and England, Dinesh Karthik donned another hat – that of a weatherman during the clash in Southampton. With rain on the horizon, even during the build-up of the WTC final, the weather was always going to be a hot topic of discussion.
When Day 1 of the Test match was washed out without the toss taking place, all eyes were on day two and the weather in particular. That is when 'Weatherman' Karthik decided to wake up at 6 in the morning to give the fans an update of the weather in Southampton. On Twitter, Karthik would upload a picture of the Ageas Bowl, giving an idea of what the conditions looked like. However, after initially receiving plaudits for his effort, Karthik revealed how those praises turned into abuses in a matter of days.
"Weatherman" is a very double-edged sword; I'll put it on record. The first day, a lot of praise, the second day, very happy, the third day they started abusing me. I wanted to sleep; I can't wake up every day at 6'o clock to give a weather report," Karthik told sports presenter Gaurav Kapoor in his podcast '22 Yarns with Gaurav Kapur'.
{{/usCountry}}"Weatherman" is a very double-edged sword; I'll put it on record. The first day, a lot of praise, the second day, very happy, the third day they started abusing me. I wanted to sleep; I can't wake up every day at 6'o clock to give a weather report," Karthik told sports presenter Gaurav Kapoor in his podcast '22 Yarns with Gaurav Kapur'.
{{/usCountry}}"They took it too seriously on social media. They started abusing me saying, 'Wake up! What the hell are you doing?' in far more choice words that I can't use on the podcast, just for not waking up, which was hard but you have to live up to their expectations, I guess. I got abused for saying it was raining."
Karthik was pretty regular in posting the weather update, but on days when the forecast did not look promising, such as Day 4, which also resulted in a washout, the India wicketkeeper batsman said that things turned uglier.
"Two things I got abused for were for saying it's gray and it's raining and the fact that I couldn't wake up early to give the news. And a lot of it, I am talking about thousands of abuses. Not one or two, that I would have let go. Thousands saying 'Wake up, wake the hell up'," Karthik revealed.