File photo of MS Dhoni© X (Twitter)
Former Australian cricket team skipper Michael Clarke namedropped MS Dhoni while giving his verdict over the controversy around Ravindra Jadeja‘s interview ahead of the Boxing Day Test match. During the first media interaction ahead of the encounter, Jadeja answered questions only in Hindi – a move that left the Australian journalists fuming. Akash Deep followed suit and it further worsened the situation with the local media. Even Virat Kohli got into a verbal spat with Australian reporters at the Melbourne Aiport.
Clarke said that not much has changed when it comes to media interactions from Indian cricketers and reminded that MS Dhoni did not address the media even once during an entire tour while he was captain.
“I don’t think much has changed, to be honest. I’ve experienced Indian teams coming here, and their captain, MS Dhoni, didn’t do one press conference during the entire Test series. So, Sachin was very restrictive around when he chose to do media. I think it’s been the same for a long time. So, I like the fact they’re still putting someone up,” he said on ESPN’s Around the Wicket show.
Clarke also pointed out that it was head coach Gautam Gambhir who set the tone with his press conference ahead of the series where he fired shots at Ricky Ponting about his comments on Virat Kohli.
“I think they made it pretty clear before they left India what they were going to be like when they arrived in Australia. They’re going to stick to themselves, stick to their plan. Gambhir made that very clear in the first press conference. So, I don’t know why anybody’s surprised, and for them, it’d be about what’s happening on the field, not off the field.”
“So, I don’t think even the chat around it would be bothering India too much,” Clarke added.
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