Subhayan Chakraborty in Melbourne
The Australian media is at it again, and you can call it dark arts, with the series tied at 1-1 and a place in the World Test Championship final is at stake.
The Aussie media’s latest target is Ravindra Jadeja and they made a mountain out of a molehill to stir a controversy following the Indian all-rounder’s press conference at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Saturday.
To put things in perspective, the same media outlet had irked Virat Kohli at the Melbourne airport where they were spotted filming the star Indian batsman’s children despite Kohli requesting them not to. The incident forced Kohli to make his point to an Aussie reporter and a cameraperson where he was again spotted requesting them to respect their privacy.
The Indian team started their preparation for the upcoming Boxing Day Test at the iconic MCG. It will be a long week for the travelling Indian media with only three practice sessions scheduled in six days, leading up to the fourth Test. When there are not many practice sessions or press conferences, the media has to dig deep to fill column-inches. The Indian team’s media department arranged a press conference with Jadeja despite it not being mandatory. The press conference was supposed to be only for the travelling Indian hacks, but a few Australian journalists, some without their accreditation cards, ended up being present. However, no objection was raised by anyone from the Indian media team or the journalists present at the venue. The rounds of questions and answers started. It’s not that Jadeja is not comfortable answering in English, but since it was supposed to be for only the Indian media, he chose to answer in Hindi, the language he is most comfortable at.
With more than a dozen media personnel present, it was, of course, not possible to give everyone a chance. Even this correspondent wanted to ask Jadeja a question about Shane Warne due to their Rajasthan Royals connection but was not given an opportunity due to a shortage of time. Many others from the Indian media didn’t get to ask their questions. Similarly, a couple of Aussie journalists who had raised their hands to ask questions to Jadeja were not given the opportunity due to time constraint. The press conference lasted exactly eight minutes and fifty seconds. By the time the clock hit the five-minute mark, the team manager and security officer were repeatedly signaling to end the presser as the team bus was waiting for Jadeja and the media manager.
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The fuse has been lit for a blockbuster showdown on Boxing Day after the Indian cricket team refused to answer questions from reporters in English.
The fresh standoff comes after a fiery confrontation at Melbourne Airport. https://t.co/NE2NFM0bbM @KateMassey_7 #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/n8DxvzKcO4
— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) December 21, 2024
In fact, Jadeja reached the bus just in time, but the media manager present at the venue had to miss it and go back to the hotel separately as he had to resolve the confusion with the infuriated Australian media and also clear a few queries from the travelling Indian reporters.
As Jadeja left, the Aussie reporters, who were apparently “annoyed”, questioned the Indian media manager in an extremely rude tone. “We have been waiting for so long. How could you not? None of the answers were in English. One question in English,” One of them asked in a very rash tone as if it were a compulsion to give them a question at the presser. As the Indian media manager walked with one of the Aussie reporters to a corner to clarify why they were not given a question and to make him understand that the team bus had been waiting for a long time, he continued to argue. While this was happening, his cameraperson continued to roll and record the entire incident, despite it being a private conversation to ease the situation. Despite repeated requests from some of the travelling Indian journalists not to record the conversation, the cameraperson persisted. Exactly the same thing happened with Kohli at the Melbourne airport, which irritated the Indian batsmen, who was there with his family.
“When the Australian team tours India, they ask all their questions in English because they don’t know Hindi. All the non-English media personnel work harder to translate those questions and answers to their respective languages. This has been the norm for many years. This is not only limited to cricket but across sports. Lionel Messi does his pressers in Spanish. Many Chinese, Indonesian, Spanish and South American athletes prefer to speak in the language they are most comfortable with. The Australian media was angered by Virat Kohli’s rebuttal at the Melbourne Airport, and to ‘retaliate’, they took a petty angle. Language is not a barrier. For the first time in this series, people are seeing the true face of the typical Australian media,” Abhishek Tripathi, sports editor of the Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran, told RevSportz.
Hours after the incident, a report on 7news.com.au was published. “India’s Ravindra Jadeja faced reporters but the Australian media were bemused and confused when the star all-rounder refused to answer questions in English. It was obviously an annoying situation for the journalists who made the effort to turn up, and (it) comes just days after Indian legend Virat Kohli’s blow-up at Melbourne Airport,” a paragraph read.
Did the Indian media personnel, who also “made the effort” to fly all the way Down Under to “turn up” for practice sessions and matches, display their annoyance when they were refused questions in Australian press conferences despite raising their hands in request? Why did the Australian media not display their “annoyance” when no one from the Indian media was notified about the Perth pitch curator’s press conference? Only after being pressed by a few Indian journalists present in Perth did one of the Cricket Australia representatives send the video of the press conference.
“I was present there, and many Indian touring journalists didn’t get the opportunity to ask questions due to time constraints. However, after the press conference ended, a few Australian journalists got annoyed and argued with the Indian team’s media manager. They misbehaved as well, which was uncalled for. I cover press conferences regularly, and even during Australian press conferences, many Indian journalists don’t get the chance to ask questions due to time shortages, but we have never argued or misbehaved,” Ankan Kar, representing Times Network, told RevSportz.
He also stated: “Jadeja only responded in his native language – what’s the harm if someone answers in his/her native language?”
Lionel Messi, throughout his career, has answered only in Spanish. The likes of David Silva and Sergio Aguero, despite spending a decade in Manchester, chose to answer in Spanish as that was the language they were comfortable with. Many top politicians, including Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, answer in their native language. Language has never been a barrier in this age and time. Ironically, Channel 7, the portal which has tried to stir this language controversy after Jadeja’s presser, is having special commentary in Hindi during matchdays to cater to the Hindi-Urdu-speaking audience. Before the series started, Australian newspapers had headlines and advertisements in Hindi and Punjabi to cater to the Indian community. Where was the “native language” controversy then?
The report further stated: “India has been particularly fickle with the media during this series, however, this is the first time they have not spoken in English at a press conference.”
This is factually incorrect as Harshit Rana, after making his debut in Perth, answered all the questions addressed to him in Hindi because that’s the language he is most comfortable with. The Australian media didn’t create a fuss then because their team was on the verge of being thrashed by the Indian team. They were embarrassed by how their team had performed on the field. They were busy bashing their own team.
Pressure is intensifying on India ahead of the Boxing Day test with the tourists adopting a siege mentality.
Just days after Virat Kohli’s fiery run-in with Australian media, today his teammates refused to answer questions from local reporters. @trent_kniese #9News pic.twitter.com/ILKWC305Ag
— 9News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) December 21, 2024
“Some of the members of the Australian media were present at the press conference. They misbehaved with the Indian media manager and some of the journalists in a visually aggressive manner. Ideally, their video journalists should not have recorded the private conversation at the MCG despite repeated requests from us. I have covered cricket in many countries, and it is very common not to get questions in press conferences due to time restraints,” Sandipan Banerjee, a freelance journalist representing ABP Network and Ray Sportz, told RevSportz.
The report went on to add: “Indian players then refused to talk to the media in the build-up to the Perth Test.” Again, a factually incorrect statement. Besides the press conferences, it is up to the player or the Board whether they want to talk to the media or not. Why force your questions on someone who doesn’t want to answer them? The player is not obligated to answer any questions beyond the press conferences.
The Australian media has been trying to stir controversies ever since the Indian team landed Down Under. When the Indian team was training at the WACA to prepare for the Perth Test, some media personnel tried to create a controversy around why black sheets were used to wrap up the nets, with some even claiming the training camp was being held behind closed doors. All false, as neither did the Indian team have anything to do with the black sheets, nor were the training sessions held behind closed doors. There was never any request made by the Indian team at the WACA.
India-Australia has always been a heated on-field rivalry, but the narrative has now shifted to off-the-field, beyond cricket too, with the Australian media seemingly trying to play tricks.
Also Read: Leave and more leaves: Rohit, Kohli switch focus at nets to regain form in Boxing Day Test