India and Australia will play the 4th BGT Test in Melbourne from December 26.
Ravindra Jadeja’s press conference ahead of the 4th BGT 2024 Test in Melbourne has led to disharmony between Indian and Australian reporters. A report has stated that a match between the journalists of the two countries was called off as a result.
Ahead of the fourth Test between India and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja spoke with a few reporters on a variety of topics.
However, a segment of the Australian media said that Jadeja refused to answer questions in English and left the media arrangement before the Australian reporters could interview him. However, the members of the BCCI media team and the Indian team’s media manager continued to deny the same.
According to The Age, a section of India's backroom staff, as well as traveling media, have chosen to skip the press match against local counterparts set for Sunday afternoon. The game had been set to take place in Melbourne's Junction Oval, but it had to be canceled.
It has been stated that Team India's media manager withdrew from the match, pushing a few other members to follow suit. As a result, there were insufficient players for the match to proceed.
As the criticism around Jadeja's Hindi-only press conference grew, a few Indian reporters stated that the media event was just for ttravelingjournalists. Also, because Jadeja was given questions in Hindi, he decided to respond in Hindi.
The India all-rounder, however, didn't refuse to speak in English at any instance, as has been suggested by Australian media.
And now after the Ravindra Jadeja controversy, Akash Deep has been accused of refusing to answer any questions by the Australian media. Akash Deep is not a native English speaker an unable to answer queries in English, but Australian media station Channel 7 has now speculated that this was a "message" from the Indian camp.
In truth, the broadcaster said that Indian reporters had not assisted Australian journalists with their inquiries.
According to Channel 7, they forwarded a question about the tension during the press conference to Akash Deep via an Indian reporter. However, the Indian reporter remarked that he was uncomfortable asking it, so he asked Akash Deep an entirely different question.
The aftermath of the incident has seen a row unfold between Australian media and Indian reporters on social media.
"Probably a few things unfolding that haven't gone down well in their (Indian) camp. It's probably just the mind games being played given the enormity of the series," said former Australian cricketer and current Channel 7 commentator Simon Katich.
Following the decision to send Akash Deep to answer questions, Channel 7 declared that the "message to Australian media was crystal clear".
The relationship between the Australian media and Indian players has deteriorated in recent days, beginning with India stalwart Virat Kohli confronting an Australian source for allegedly collecting footage and images of his family.