Katich labels Kohli, Jadeja media controversies as ‘mind games’, channel accuses Indian reporter of misquoting question

Former Australia cricketer Simon Katich labelled the recent Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jajdeja media controversies as ‘mind games’.

From the outside, it has been nervy at the Indian camp since Ravichandran Ashwin’s shock immediate retirement from international cricket. The spinner made the announcement in the post-match press conference in Brisbane, and has already reached Chennai. Then there was also a media controversy regarding former captain Virat Kohli, who was left angry by Australian reporters. On his arrival in Melbourne with his family, he was reportedly captured by media cameras in the airport. Then he reportedly asked the reporters to not film his family without permission.

Simon Katich was asked about India's recent media controversies.

Then there has also been a media controversy surrounding Ravindra Jadeja, who left Australian journalists frustrated in Melbourne after he answered questions only in Hindi during a press interaction. The questions were asked in Hindi by the travelling journalists from India. There were also some Australian journalists present, but Jadeja only answered to the Indian journalists in Hindi and left. On confronting the BCCI official present, the Australian reporters were told that Jadeja had to leave for the team bus, which was getting delayed.

Channel 7 reported that the team media manager offered Akash Deep for a media interaction, but the pacer only knew Hindi and was unable to answer in English. The channel also reported that their reporter took the help of an Indian journalist to ask about ‘tensions’ in the India camp, which was misquoted as who had the ‘upper hand’ in the series.

Video shown by Channel 7:

Simon Katich calls it ‘mind games’

Speaking to Channel 7, for whom he also works as a commentator, Australian coach and former cricketer Simon Katich labelled it as ‘mind games’ from the Indian camp. “Obviously, there’s been a few things unfolding in the last week or so, that haven’t gone down well at that camp. It’s probably just the mind games being played, given the enormity of this series,” he said.

“The media are here to promote the game and I don’t know what the Indians are thinking at the moment. That’s their problem,” he added.

Gautam Gambhir and his support staff will be hoping that the recent incidents don’t serve as a distraction for the Indian team, who are set to face Australia in the fourth Test in Melbourne, on December 26. The series is currently level at 1-1, with the Brisbane Test ending as a draw.