Indian captain Sourav Ganguly gave his Australian counterpart Steve Waugh a tongue lashing on Thursday, saying Waugh should shut up and rather focus his attention on Australian cricket.
Responding to comments from Waugh earlier this week following the penalty of six Indian players in South Africa, Ganguly said: "He (Waugh) should shut up and think about Australian cricket."
Ganguly was talking to reporters while the Indian team was practising for its third and final Test -- the future of which was still in the balance -- due to start at Centurion Park, near Pretoria, on Friday.
Ganguly said he was not allowed to comment on the row over Denness but felt no such compunction about lashing out at Waugh.
Verdicts by match referee Mike Denness against superstar Sachin Tendulkar and five other Indian players during the second Test at Port Elizabeth have created a furore in the cricket world, with India threatening to withdraw from Friday's third Test in South Africa if Denness is not removed.
But Ganguly said he had not heard from Indian cricket chief Jagmohan Dalmiya who is expected to announce a final decision later Thursday, less than 24 hours before the Test is due to start.
He did however concede that his team was "preparing for a Test match".
Waugh, a staunch cricket traditionalist, applauded the decision to punish Tendulkar for ball tampering, saying it showed the International Cricket Council was no longer prepared to tolerate on-field misbehaviour.

"If he's picked the seam (of the ball) then he has got to pay the penalty like everyone else," Waugh was quoted in news reports as saying.
During his interview with the press, he repeated twice that Waugh should shut up.
Ganguly and Waugh are known to have had a personality clash during the Test and one-day series when Australia toured India earlier this year, when Waugh got annoyed with Ganguly's habit of arriving late for the toss.
Indian team coach John Wright supported Ganguly.

"It seemed unusual that players here (in South Africa) are not allowed to comment, but other players, who are still playing under the jurisdiction of the ICC are commenting."
"It's something that needs to be tidied up," Wright said. Bureau Report