'I don't blame the guys': Shastri weighs in on the Saha-scribe row, says players have no choice but to go into a shell

Ravi Shastri has said that the relationship between the media and players have deteriorated drastically since the time that he was a player.

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has said that the relationship between cricketers and the media have deteriorated since the time that he used to be a player. The issue came into the limelight recently when veteran wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha shared a screenshots of a chat with an unnamed journalist in which the latter seemed to be threatening him for not doing an interview. Shastri was among both players and media who expressed support for Saha in the immediate aftermath of his post.

Ravi Shastri was among those who expressed support for Wriddhiman Saha. (PTI/File)

“It's changed from the time we played,” said Shastri, during the launch of veteran journalist Khalid A-H Ansari’s memoir, ‘It's a Wonderful World'.

"The equation we had with journalists was far, far better than the equation you see with the boys today. I was part of the dressing room for the past seven years. And I don’t blame (the players). The spotlight that is there on today’s players is nowhere like what it was on us. We (only) had the print media… there was TV that had just started. "

Shastri, who was India's head coach between July 2017 and November 2021, said that he used to tell the players to speak to the media at press conferences as far as possible during his tenure.

"We've tried to discuss it with them. Speak as much as you can to the media but make sure it's a proper kind of press conference, take everyone's questions at one go, because what happens is a lot of things are taken out of context these days. I'm being honest about it. Because of the competition that exists (between media organisations).

"As a result, the player has no choice but to go into a shell. He says, 'I'd rather look within, focus on the game, let my cricket do the talking, and once I'm done and dusted, I can speak to whoever I want to,'" said Shastri.