Melbourne: The planned media match between Indian and Australian journalists was called off after the Indian media reportedly boycotted the pre-arranged game, following a row that stemmed from a press conference involving allrounder Ravindra Jadeja.
The T20 match scheduled for Sunday at Junction Oval in Melbourne was cancelled after India’s media manager opted not to participate. This decision led several members of the Indian media contingent to withdraw as well, making it impossible to organize the match, according to a report by The Age, citing multiple sources.
The controversy began with a press conference on Saturday, where Jadeja took questions from the media. After a delay of half an hour following India’s training session, Jadeja began answering questions in Hindi from Indian journalists. After nine minutes, the press conference ended, with the media manager citing the team’s departure as the reason for Jadeja's early exit.
Some Australian media outlets, however, reported that Jadeja refused to answer questions in English, leaving them frustrated. Channel 7 reported that Australian journalists were "bemused and confused" by Jadeja's preference for Hindi. In contrast, it was clarified that Jadeja never refused to answer questions in English; he responded in Hindi as the Indian reporters exclusively asked their questions in that language.
Relations between the Indian team and local media have been tense since the squad arrived in Melbourne on Thursday. Star batter Virat Kohli was involved in a heated exchange with a journalist, expressing frustration over the presence of cameras directed at his family.
The fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy begins on Thursday at the MCG, with the series tied at 1-1.
With IANS inputs