The one thing that needs to improve on away tours is the relationship between the Indian players and management and the touring media. At the moment, the press conferences are more routine than anything else. Ask a player if he wants to meet the press and hand on heart the answer will be no. It is more out of compulsion than anything else that they do these interactions. And over the years, this is one aspect that has progressively deteriorated. Gone are the days when the media and the players would spend time like in 1989 in Pakistan – remember the famous Sachin Tendulkar photograph that came out of it.
There is now an inherent assumption that the media is out to get the players or the head coach. That their job is to get after them and create a headline, which doesn’t necessarily make them look good. Negative stories sell more, and with social media, more so.
Also, with social media around, the players don’t need the media as much. Earlier, the media would be the option to put their point of view in front of the world. Now, they have their own social media platforms. And if you are as proficient as Ravi Ashwin, all you need to do is go and say whatever you need to, on your YouTube platform. In a media agnostic age, there is nothing called mainstream media anymore, and that’s what has impacted the relationship between the players and the journalists.
Scribes too have come to terms with this change and have transformed themselves accordingly. They know that it is no longer about synergy. Rather, a story which claims that not all is well in the Indian team has far greater currency on social media.
I think this is where things can get better. While no synergy is needed during the Champions Trophy or the IPL, on a two month gruelling away tour of England in summer, this is one aspect that can help the team and the players. The British media are at times far worse than the Australian tabloids – remember the ‘Kohli clown’ headline, and that’s where the synergy helps.
Better and more meaningful interactions in press conferences, more transparency and separate press interactions with the Indian media to help coverage, will surely be a welcome development going forward. English and Australian teams always do things separately for their own press, and while India has been open and allowed the Australian media to every interaction, there should surely be meetings that are exclusively organised for the touring press.
What an improved relationship will help with is it will stop gossip being peddled as news. With transparency, questions can be asked of the media as well if sensationalist headlines are peddled and in all it will help the sport on a tough tour of England.
While it is the job of the media to ask the questions and the hard questions, it is also important to stand by the team when there is an unfair attack like the one on Kohli. To call him a clown was disgusting. Also, to accuse Bumrah of cheating was another example when things became a tad too much.
With all the other learnings, this is yet another from the just concluded BGT.