Following the press conference controversy involving all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, the visiting media has reportedly skipped a pre-arranged game, leading to the cancellation of a scheduled inter-press match between the Indian and Australian media.
The Indian team’s media manager declined to play in the T20 game that was slated to take place on Sunday at Junction Oval in Melbourne.
According to media reports, it was unable to arrange a formal match because of this decision, which also caused a number of the visiting media contingent to withdraw.
After India finished a training session at the stadium, there was a half-hour delay in the scheduled media appearance, which was followed by a press conference on Saturday where Jadeja fielded questions in Hindi.
Jadeja started answering questions from reporters from India. The press conference came to an end when the team bus had to leave after nine minutes of talk in the Indian language. The media manager for India stated that the player was unable to remain any longer.
However, according to certain Australian media, Jadeja declined to respond to questions in English. “The renowned all-rounder’s refusal to respond to questions in English left the Australian media puzzled and confused. For the journalists that managed to be there, it was clearly an unpleasant scenario,” a section of the media said.
In reality, Jadeja never declined to respond to enquiries in English. The Indian reporters asked their questions mainly in Hindi and he answered mostly in that language.
The Indian team’s relations with the local media soured on Thursday when the team began arriving in Melbourne. In a heated exchange with a reporter, star batsman Virat Kohli seemed upset that his family was being recorded.
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