India Media Boycotts Match with Australia Following Jadeja Press Conference Controversy: Report

Melbourne, Dec 22 (NationPress) The anticipated media match between the Indian and Australian press was halted after the Indian media allegedly boycotted a scheduled game due to a controversy surrounding a press conference with Ravindra Jadeja.

The T20 match, set for Sunday at Junction Oval in Melbourne, was cancelled after the media manager of the Indian team opted not to participate. This decision led several members of the traveling media group to withdraw as well, making it unfeasible to arrange a formal match, according to multiple sources cited by The Age.

This incident followed a press conference on Saturday featuring Jadeja, where the allrounder responded to inquiries in Hindi.

After a delay of half an hour in the scheduled media appearance post India’s training session at the venue, Jadeja began addressing questions from Indian reporters. After nine minutes of dialogue in Hindi, the press conference was concluded due to the impending departure of the team bus, as stated by India’s media manager.

Nevertheless, some Australian media outlets are asserting that Jadeja declined to answer questions in English. “The Australian media were perplexed and frustrated when the star allrounder chose not to respond to questions in English. It was clearly an irritating situation for the journalists who made the effort to attend,” reported Channel 7.

In truth, Jadeja did not refuse to answer questions in English. He primarily responded in Hindi because the Indian reporters asked their questions solely in that language.

Tensions between the Indian team and local media escalated upon the squad's arrival in Melbourne on Thursday. Star batsman Virat Kohli was involved in a tense interaction with a journalist, appearing frustrated by the presence of cameras aimed at his family.

The fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series is set to commence on Thursday at the MCG, with the series currently tied at 1-1.