Media should avoid running down players at every opportunity
The recently concluded series between India and Australia, apart from providing a lot of excitement, also offered a fair bit of entertainment due to the varying stances taken by some of the scribes relating to some issues
Woorkheri Raman
14-Apr-2001
The recently concluded series between India and Australia, apart from
providing a lot of excitement, also offered a fair bit of
entertainment due to the varying stances taken by some of the scribes
relating to some issues. After the last one-dayer at Goa, the 'bogus
ticket' scandal has been in the news adding grist to the mill. It was
appalling to read an article written by one of the Australian scribes
in a local daily after the conclusion of the series. The article
reeked of deep-rooted contempt for the Indians, which probably is not
based on issues alone. Even more stunning was the publication of that
article with the editors hardly doing justice to the sentiments of
either the country or the countrymen. One wonders if the obsequious
attitude of Indians towards the Westerners will ever change. The
particular column I am referring to had nothing but gossip picked up
in the bar, which is suggestive of the scribe's knowledge about the
game.
One of the most debated issues during the entire series was the
behaviour of the Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly. The media carried
reports untiringly about his apparent arrogance and his deemed
disregard to certain traditions of the game. He may have been guilty
of not doing a few things correctly but quite obviously the persistent
hammering of Ganguly was definitely not the right thing either for the
scribes to have done. Ganguly may be prone to 'reacting syndrome' but
he could have done without the consistent needling. As a captain he
must have also felt that the media was leaning more towards the
Australians ever since their arrival in this country. There is some
merit with that notion and one just got the feeling that the monthly
subscriptions were done for newspapers published in Australia going by
the hype given to the Aussies before the start of the series. Agreed
that the Aussies came to India with an awesome record but it has to be
borne in mind that most of their victories were at home. I am not
suggesting that the Aussies do well only at home but it has eventually
been proved that even a very good side can find it difficult to
succeed away from home.
It is apt to mention in this context that the Indians are heavily
criticised for lack of results abroad but it has to be remembered that
almost every side has better results at home. Take the case of Shane
Warne. He is without doubt a great bowler but then his figures in
India have not been anything to harp on and mind you he has come to
India on two tours. That being the case none of the Indian scribes
even wrote anything adverse about Warne, leave alone having a go at
him. I am not advocating the scribes to blast touring players but the
attitude of running down the Indian cricketers at the first available
opportunity is something which should be avoided. What is inexplicable
is the fact that the Indian scribes do go abroad and read the local
reports which only aim to demoralise the visiting sides and yet they
keep sticking to their own agenda.
The recent series saw a face-off situation between the media and the
Indian skipper, which was a product of a continuous action-reaction
process. The lack of form also must have been an additive to the
captain's edginess. Ganguly took up the mantle at a very difficult
juncture in Indian cricket and since then the team has acquitted
itself creditably. He has to be given time to improve not only as
a captain but also as a tactful spokesman. Ganguly on his part would
do well to have a talk with Ajit Wadekar who was a past master at
getting scribes around to his side, to the extent that even a practice
session was considered phenomenal during Wadekar's tenure as a coach.
Ganguly does have the support of his present coach John Wright, but he
should realise that he is bound to receive a lot of flak as a captain
which he should learn to take in his stride.
With the next series scheduled to be played in Zimbabwe, the Indian
captain has to come to terms with a few facts of life and try and
ensure that he adopts a more tolerant approach towards his detractors.
Conversely the members of the fourth estate should also realise that
their reports really have a big influence on the public and therefore
underplay the negative side of things especially during the series. Of
course there will be lot of topics that can be dwelled upon and the
administrators never run short of ways and means that keep the people
interested. One's throat is hoarse after reiterating that the staging
associations should fulfil certain criteria before they are allotted
an international match. It is not enough if the rigors of having an
evaluation committee are applied only in the case of a World Cup.