 "Screengrab of video posted by BCCI on X in which India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja answers questions from journalists at the Melbourne Cricket Ground ahead of the Boxing Day Test")
The ongoing Test series between India and Australia has been nothing but dramatic so far, and it’s not just the riveting on-field action that we’re talking about here. While both teams have had their moments in the first three Tests of the five-match series that currently stands at 1-1 , there have been plenty of off-field drama as well.
The Australian media is known to be the team’s unofficial 12th man in high-profile assignments such as the Ashes and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and have been contributing to tensions between the two teams ahead of the ‘Boxing Day Test’ – the fourth Test of the series in Melbourne that gets underway on 26 December.
The latest incidents that contributed to tensions between the two teams was batting star Virat Kohli getting into a heated exchange with an Australian journalist at the Melbourne airport and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja doing a press conference at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Hindi despite the presence of local media.
The Jadeja incident has since led to tensions spilling over to the press box from the field, with Indian and Australian journalists now at loggerheads with one another. Australian journalists were left incensed after Jadeja took questions only in Hindi after reportedly arriving 30 minutes left and leaving the venue after just nine minutes.
Aussie and Indian media divided over Jadeja presser
According to Sydney Morning Herald, the publication that claimed Kohli had “berated a female reporter”, claimed that an Australian journalist was in line to ask the first question in English when Jadeja turned around and decided to head back to the team bus.
The publication also claimed that it was the first time a press conference involving an Indian player had taken place in Hindi instead of starting with questions in English in the ongoing tour.
Additionally, a clip posted by 9News Melbourne on X shows Indian media manager Moulin Parekh asking them to turn their camera off and a local journalist later describing the event as “disorganised and hopeless”.
RevSportz, however, quashed that allegation, stating that Jadeja had never refused to answer questions in English, and that he was genuinely in a hurry to board the team bus after a training session at ‘The G’.
The website added that pacer Harshit Rana had answered questions only in Hindi during a press conference in Perth, but the Aussie journalists having no problem with that back then.
Friendly match ahead of ‘Boxing Day Test’ cancelled
Tensions arising from the Kohli and Jadeja incidents have since led to a friendly game of cricket between Indian and Australian journalists getting called off.
According to The Age, a section of Team India’s backroom staff along with the travelling media will no longer be playing a game of cricket with their Australian counterparts on Sunday afternoon at Melbourne’s Junction Oval.
It was Indian media manager Parekh who had reportedly withdrawn his name from the match, with a few others joining him in the boycott. As a result, the Indian team wasn’t left with enough players for the match, and it was cancelled as a result.
The off-field drama between the Gabba and MCG matches might just make the fourth Test starting later this week the most explosive game in what has been quite the heated series so far.