No ban on players from talking to media: KKR management

Mohali: The management of the Kolkata Knight Riders today rubbished reports suggesting that they have issued embargo on players from talking to the media apart from scheduled press conferences. “We have just heard from Kolkata media about this. There are reports that we are not allowing any interaction with the players other than the official press conferences. I want to say on record that’s not true…there is no media blockage at all,” KKR Team Director Joy Bhattacharya told reporters here. After team’s coach Trevor Bayliss had finished addressing a news conference on the eve of KKR’s IPL match against Kings XI Punjab to be played here tomorrow, Bhattacharya said that he wanted to make a statement about the media reports. He said on the match-day, the team management does not entertain any media requests for interviews with the players and there are occasions when on travel days, the players don’t want to give interviews. [caption id=“attachment_279094” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The management of the Kolkata Knight Riders rubbished reports suggesting that they have issued embargo on players from talking to the media apart from scheduled press conferences. AFP”]  [/caption] “Otherwise, we (the players) are happy to give interviews. But please understand, other than press conferences and sponsor request, the prerogative to give an interview or not lies with the player. We can’t force players to give interviews. But we can put forward the requests to them and we will be very happy to facilitate that,” Bhattacharya, who handles the media for his team. He also stated that it is not that the KKR was not doing any press conferences or facilitating interviews with the players. “The issue is that if a player wants to do the interview on a non-match day or a practice day, we will be happy to do it,” he added. PTI