PERTH, Australia: ‘Duncan has left for Cape Town to attend the funeral of his father-in-law’.
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That’s it. That’s not a Twitter message, but the information sent out to the media by India’s media manager, RN Baba.
No salutations. No use of full names. No information that can be used in turning it into a story. And no basic courtesy like adding a line saying that the BCCI’s and the Indian cricket team’s thoughts are with the Fletcher family at this sad moment.
I was actually quite pleased to see father-in-law written in full, and not FIL.
It just typifies the importance that BCCI has for media, and the insensitivity that they show in general towards the whole wide world, including their own National Coach.
And if you call Mr Baba for any additional information, you are unlikely to get any further details. When did he die? No idea. Will Fletcher be back for the next match? No idea. When is the funeral? No idea.
Shikhar Dhawan addresses the media before tomorrow’s match against the UAE. #CWC15 #INDvUAE @Sport_360 pic.twitter.com/maAfABEdMi
— Joy Chakravarty (@TheJoyOfCricket) February 27, 2015
That release is just one example of how shabbily the largest media contingent Down Under for the 2015 World Cup is being treated.
Unlike most teams, who make it a point to present one member of the team before the media for a question-answer session each day, India tend to hide their players like they are some state secret.
The only interaction is the pre- and post-match press conferences.
You’d think any involvement with the World Cup is a matter of joy, but being an Indian journalist is perhaps the worst job in the world right now. It may be a festival of cricket for 44 days here, but the hacks are having one heck of a troubled time.
One journalist pointed out: “The editor back home wants us to file at least two-three stories every day with an Indian angle. How are we supposed to do that when nobody in the team speaks to us?
“It becomes even more difficult when you have almost week-long gaps between India’s matches. How much analysis can you write?”
In the absence of any useful information, a leading tabloid published a full-page report on how the Indian team had to go through proper security procedure while travelling from Adelaide to Melbourne. And television channels are taking pride in reporting exclusively that Virat Kohli had Italian dinner the other night.
Cricket is a religion in the world’s largest democracy, but the shabby treatment of the Fourth Estate clearly shows there is nothing democratic about the Indian cricket team.
