The bumpy players v media road

Well before the Gavaskar-Kohli issue, there were a lot of cases of cricketers having problems with what reporters wrote, although it wouldn’t be fair to say that the journalists were always in the right

Present cricket stars hitting out at former stalwarts… now there’s a bit of history to that!

The latest edition to this chapter is Virat Kohli getting back at the television commentators for bringing up his strike-rate during the ongoing Indian Premier League, followed by Sunil Gavaskar taking off on the broadcasters for going on about that piece of Kohli footage too often.

We’ve had many instances of players having bones to pick with commentators. Before that, there were a lot of cases of players having issues with what journalists wrote. So, print journalists were the original hit-back targets, although it wouldn’t be fair to say that the keyboard-tappers were in the right all the time.

And though it may not have been funny at the time of the occurrence, it produced some level of mirth later on. One of the most hilarious instances of player-reporter ‘duels’ was revealed by the late Suresh Saraiya, an AIR commentator, in Willow Tales, a compilation of cricket anecdotes by that pleasant former commentator Fredun De Vitre. During the Bombay v Rajasthan 1969-70 Ranji Trophy final, Ashok Mankad dropped a sitter at slip. Sitting in the Brabourne Stadium press box, Saraiya exclaimed within earshot of a rookie reporter: “That’s Mankad’s 100th dropped catch, a new record.” Mankad’s ‘record drop’, meant to be a prank on the newcomer, landed in the next morning’s newspaper.

Before the start of the next day’s proceedings, Mankad was seen in the press box expressing his desire to meet the reporter who wrote about the ‘record’ and demanding a list of the remaining 99 dropped catches.

Many years later, in 1988, veteran journalist Rajan Bala penned a critical piece on the touring New Zealand team, who were undertaking a challenging tour of India under captain John Wright. In Bangalore, the late Bala questioned why the Kiwis should be playing Test cricket in the first place. On the day the story appeared, a gentleman armed with the newspaper walked into the press enclosure and asked who Rajan Bala was. Bala, I hear, went up to the man most excitedly, only to discover that he was about to be tackled by the New Zealand team manager, Ken Deas. Bala was as knowledgeable as they come and though Deas wouldn’t have held back his anguish at the piece, Bala wouldn’t have been short of justification for what he had written.

In another New Zealand-related story, Sir Richard Hadlee devoted an entire chapter to his relationship with the media in his book Rhythm and Swing.

On the 1987-88 tour of Australia, Hadlee made a speech during a function at Renmark, where the tourists played a game against South Australia Country. He later learnt that Don Cameron, one of the celebrated writers from the New Zealand press pack, had filed a story back home which said Hadlee had criticised the work of Glenn Turner as manager of the Kiwis during the 1987 World Cup in India. A flabbergasted Hadlee (who didn’t come for the World Cup) phoned Cameron to ask when did he even mention Turner in his speech. The journalist told him that he couldn’t remember what he had written.

Doubtless, Hadlee would have been cold towards Cameron henceforth. Or probably terse, like Sandeep Patil was with Delhi-based journalist R Sriman on the 1982-83 tour of Pakistan, according to the well-travelled journalist Kuldip Lal. In Caught & Told—a book on anecdotes Patil and I put together in 2007, Kuldip Lal revealed that Patil was angry about something Sriman had written in the midst of his leg injury worries. When Sriman asked Patil how his leg was, the flamboyant batsman quipped, “Hairy.”

It’s not necessary that cricketers or cricket administrators have problems with the written word. My Australian friend Mike Coward, a highly respected journalist, was at the receiving end of Dennis Lillee’s wrath when he called the great fast bowler on a telephone number which Lillee shared with him only to use “in a matter of life and death.”

Lillee wrote in Over and Out: “Mike used the number. It wasn’t life or death and he received a Lillee burst.” He also wrote this: “Coward, apart from being a mate of long standing, is a journalist I really regard. I think Coward is one of the most talented I have read.” 

I too have had my share of unpleasant reactions to my work. In January 1998, the India ‘A’ team consisted of fast bowler N Madhukar, the son of then BCCI vice-president Venkat Rao. There were questions about whether he should have made the team and I headed to the Cricket Club of India for a reaction from the late Raj Singh Dungarpur, then the Board president. I met him on the lawns of the club and he obliged me with his reaction defending the selection of the Andhra Pradesh administrator’s son. Raj Singh’s view appeared the following day but it was not the lead story on the controversy. When I landed in the office, I was told that Raj Singh, with whom I had interacted professionally for the first time, was upset. “Call him now,” I was told. Raj Singh came on the line and expressed his disappointment with the piece. I asked him if he thought I had misquoted him. To my relief, he said I had quoted him correctly, but only a portion of his views was carried. I explained to him that we were constrained by space. “In that case, don’t speak to insignificant people like me,” he shot back. I had nothing to say in response to the BCCI president that evening, but we ended up enjoying a great professional and personal rapport in the years that followed.

Rajbhai would have sat up and taken notice of Gavaskar’s recent reaction. As a former chief selector, he wouldn’t have completely rubbished the strike-rate factor in Kohli’s batting. Nor would he have appreciated Star Sports playing that clip ever so often during the day.

Hopefully, this episode won’t leave a bitter taste and one can’t rule out Gavaskar rejoicing like he did at ground level when Kohli hit that six off Haris Rauf, which guaranteed India wouldn’t lose their T20 World Cup game v Pakistan at Melbourne in 2022. 

mid-day’s group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello

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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper

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