Ganguly tells Steve Waugh to "shut up"

India skipper Sourav Ganguly, angry at his Australian counterpart Steve Waugh for supporting match-referee Mike Denness's controversial action against six Indian cricketers, on Thursday, asked him to "shut up".

"He should shut up and think about Australian cricket," Ganguly said, reacting to Waugh's reported comments that guilty cricketers should be punished irrespective of their stature.

Ganguly said it is surprising that while affected players and the team are not supposed to talk about the match- referee's decision, everyone else had the freedom to comment on the subject, an opinion that found support from India coach John Wright.

"It does seen unusual that players involved here are not allowed to comment while for others there is a liberty to say whatever they feel like," Wright said.

Reacting to the one-match suspended ban handed out to Sachin Tendulkar for alleged ball-tampering, Waugh had said in Hobart on Wednesday that if Tendulkar had picked the seam of the ball, "then he has got to play the penalty like everyone else".

"There should not be any favours because of your reputation or the way you play the game. If you do something wrong you have to get pulled up for it," Waugh had said.

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Mail Cricket Editor