While the Indian men’s cricket team won a T20 series against West Indies by a 3-0 margin at Eden Gardens, a series of rude messages from a journalist to a cricketer had forced focus to get diverted a bit.
One of India’s best wicket-keeepers, Wriddhiman Saha on Saturday had tweeted a screenshot of messages that a journalist had sent him. The messages, which were quite rude, seemed to be demanding an exclusive interview.
On Monday morning, reports filtered in, that the BCCI had sought details about the unnamed journalist and a thorough investigation would happen into the matter. The BCCI intends to delve deep into the matter, and are also looking to find out if any other cricketer has faced similar issues.
In the aftermath, Saha has seen plenty of support coming his way, with the likes of Ravi Shastri, RP Singh, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh, to name a few, putting out strong statements. Shastri, who was India’s head coach up until the 2021 T20 World Cup, said, “Shocking a player being threatened by a journo. Blatant position abuse. Something that's happening too frequently with #TeamIndia. Time for the BCCI PREZ to dive in. Find out who the person is in the interest of every cricketer. This is serious coming from ultimate team man WS”.
Former India spinner Pragyan Ojha, the Indian cricketers’ association representative, tweeted that “we will make sure our cricket community boycotts this so called journalist!”
The incident happened hours after the India squad for the Sri Lanka series was announced on Saturday evening, where Saha was not included.
In interviews with various publications, Saha had said that head coach Rahul Dravid had indicated that the Indian team were leaning towards grooming a younger keeper as a backup for Rishabh Pant. On Sunday evening, after India won the T20 series against West Indies, Dravid explained that his decision to speak with Saha was out of respect for the player.
"I have a deep respect for Wriddhiman Saha and his achievements and contributions to Indian cricket. My conversation with him actually came from that place, from my respect for him. He deserved honesty and clarity. I didn't want him to hear about it from the media. These are conversations I constantly have with players. I'm not hurt about it at all because I don't expect players to always like all the messages or agree with everything I have to say about them. That's not how it works. When you have difficult conversations with people - sometimes you have to have them with players - you don't always expect them to agree with you or like you, but that doesn't mean you brush it under the carpet and don't have the conversations," Dravid said.
Saha last played for India in the Kanpur Test against New Zealand, when Pant had been rested. It is, reportedly, at this time juncture that BCCI President Sourav Ganguly assured the veteran cricketer of a place in the squad.
“The biggest shock was that when I scored 61 against New Zealand in Kanpur despite being injured, Dadi [Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president] texted to congratulate me and said I didn't need to worry about anything till he is there. Naturally, I was shocked at what I was told immediately one series after,” Saha told ESPNCricinfo.
However, the board president isn’t expected to get involved in selections, and the conversation with Saha has reportedly not gone down well with some offices in the BCCI.
Saha meanwhile has pulled out of the Ranji Trophy this season as he wanted to be with his family. He told Sportstar that his wife had been unwell for a while and felt that it was important to spend time with family.
Saha will turn out for Gujarat Titans in the upcoming IPL, and said that he will try to deliver to the best of his abilities for the new franchise.
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