Media in the cricket world: An uneasy partnership

Anyone who watched Virat Kohli’s press conference at the end of the Leeds Test was bound to feel a sense of embarrassment. Kohli, to his credit, managed to bite his tongue to a question on ‘front and backfoot’ and just passed off the question with a cold “Okay thanks”.

The question, painful and stupid, is just one of the many reasons why Indian cricketers and the media don’t see eye to eye. While the media has every right to feel miffed at some of the answers, there is also a need for introspection and soul searching on the questions asked.

In 1989, in Pakistan, the media and the cricketers would spend social time together. Sachin’s famous moustache photograph was clicked in one such gathering. With time, however, the camaraderie started to erode. We have seen the team paraded under MS Dhoni in England in front of the media and we have seen the team’s media manager threatening to cancel accreditations if the media greeted players during the 2015 World Cup.

Media's right to question but stay inside boundaries

Brilliant self control by Virat Kohli there. Even after the loss, he didn't let the frustration come out in the Press conference. #ENGvsIND pic.twitter.com/0O4Ovwli18

— Mr.Cricket (@MrCricketR) August 29, 2021

Such actions have added to the sense of mistrust. On many occasions, the players feel the media is out to get them. And do so unfairly. Constructive criticism too is looked upon as unfair and things just keep going south.

It is the media’s job to be critical. To report and ask the right questions. Just as the media praises the team for performances like the one at Lord's, it is only logical that the media will ask the tough questions after the collapse in Leeds. Sadly, questions like front and backfoot run the risk of deepening the chasm.

The players and the media need to feed off each other and both need to have a degree of mutual respect. We all have a job to do and the faster we start doing it sensibly, the better it is for Indian cricket. Showing the team down isn’t a victory and being rude to the press can never be the norm.

Just like the team needs to make a fresh beginning at the Oval, it is time both sides do so in the pre-match press conference as well.