Wriddhiman Saha has received an outpouring of support after sharing a screenshot of messages he received from a journalist following the Indian selection committee’s decision to drop him from the Test squad for the two-match series against Sri Lanka. Speaking to PTI, BCCI Treasurer Arun Dhumal had said the board would look into the matter and that BCCI secretary Jay Shah “will certainly speak to Wriddhiman”. However, in an interview with The Indian Express, said that he would not reveal the identity of the journalist to the board because it was “never my intention to harm somebody’s career, to pull a person down.”
“I haven’t received any communication from the BCCI yet. If they ask me to reveal the name (of the journalist), I would tell them it was never my intention to harm somebody’s career, to pull a person down. That’s why I didn’t reveal the name in my tweet. That’s not the teaching of my parents. The main purpose of my tweet was to expose the fact that there’s someone in the media who does such things, disrespecting a player’s wish,” Saha told The Indian Express.
“It wasn’t fair, which I wanted to tell through my tweets. He who has done it knows it very well. I posted those tweets because I didn’t want the players to face such things. I wanted to convey the message that what has been done was wrong and no one else should do it again,” he added.
The 37-year-old had taken to Twitter to allege that a “respected journalist” took an aggressive tone after his refusal to give him an interview.
After all of my contributions to Indian cricket..this is what I face from a so called “Respected” journalist! This is where the journalism has gone. pic.twitter.com/woVyq1sOZX
— Wriddhiman Saha (@Wriddhipops) February 19, 2022
The likes of Virender Sehwag, Ravi Shastri, Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh came out in support of Saha.
While Shastri asked BCCI president Sourav Ganguly to step in, Ojha and Harbhajan urged Saha to name the journalist in question.
Shocking a player being threatened by a journo. Blatant position abuse. Something that’s happening too frequently with #TeamIndia. Time for the BCCI PREZ to dive in. Find out who the person is in the interest of every cricketer. This is serious coming from ultimate team man WS https://t.co/gaRyfYVCrs
— Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) February 20, 2022
Please name him wriddhi! I promise you as a representative of players, I will make sure our cricket community boycotts this so called journalist!! https://t.co/XmorYAyGvW
— Pragyan Ojha (@pragyanojha) February 20, 2022
Wridhi you just name the person so that the cricket community knows who operates like this. Else even the good ones will be put under suspicion.. What kind of journalism is this ? @BCCI @Wriddhipops @JayShah @SGanguly99 @ThakurArunS players should be protected https://t.co/sIkqtIHsvt
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) February 20, 2022
India’s squads for the Test and T20I series were announced on Saturday. Saha along with veteran stars Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma were all dropped in from the Test squad.
Saha later revealed that the team management headed by head coach Rahul Dravid had told him to think about “retirement” as he won’t be considered for selection henceforth.
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The wicketkeeper-batter also said that Ganguly had messaged him following his fighting knock of 61 in the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur in November, assuring him of a place in the team “as long as I’m here (helming the BCCI)”.
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India take on Sri Lanka in a two-Test series at home starting March 4.
(With PTI inputs)
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