Cricketers Came Out In Support Of Wriddhiman Saha After He Was Threatened By A Journalist: Journalists having an influence on the selections and board politics is not new in Indian cricket. Something that former skipper MS Dhoni washed out to the core and stood against it during his time at the helm.
However, now, the “sources” have crept back into the Indian cricket system. And senior cricketer Wriddhiman Saha had to come out revealing some shocking text messages from a journalist who threatened him with consequences if he didn’t pick up his call and denied him an interview.
Wriddhiman Saha, without any doubt the best gloveman in the country, was dropped from the Test squad on Saturday for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka. While they had been rumours about his axing, and also his retirement prior to the team announcement, Saha had confirmed that he will not retire as yet even if he’s dropped.
Hours after the team news, Saha took to Twitter to reveal that a “respected” journalist had threatened him, saying “You did not call. Never again will I interview you. I don’t take insults kindly. And I will remember this.” Further adding “This wasn’t something ypu (you) should have done.”
Saha felt disrespected by such words and expressed his displeasure with these texts. “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,” he captioned his post.
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 Twitterverse blew up as soon as Saha posted this tweet which has so far been a talking point, and has gained over 80,000 likes and over 15,000 retweets and quotes.
As fans speculate on the names of the possible senior journalists, some former cricketers have come out and slammed that journalist, some even asking Saha to call the person out and reveal his identity. Aakash Chopra, Virender Sehwag, RP Singh, Harbhajan Singh tweeted in support of Saha.
Name him, buddy. Sorry state of affairs…cricket community wouldn’t bat an eyelid before boycotting this ‘so called’ journalist for good. https://t.co/h72gw6l35f
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) 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
When it is about BCCI or cricketers, we hear so many ‘sources’ from all the journalists. Can a single source tell me who this so called journalist is who has threatened Saha? #cricketwitter https://t.co/C9PRjcaNES
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) February 20, 2022
Extremely sad. Such sense of entitlement, neither is he respected nor a journalist, just chamchagiri.
With you Wriddhi. https://t.co/A4z47oFtlD— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) February 20, 2022
Saha, meanwhile, has also revealed that Rahul Dravid, the head coach, had hinted him at considering retirement from international cricket.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Saha revealed: ‘After the South Africa series, Rahul bhai [Dravid, the head coach] called me to the room and said, “Wriddhi, I don’t know how to say this, but for some time now the selectors and the team management have been wanting to look at a new face (as wicketkeeper). Because you are not our first-choice wicketkeeper, because you haven’t been playing for a while, we want to use this time to groom a younger wicketkeeper.” I said “okay, no issues”.
‘And he said, “Don’t be shocked if you are not selected for the Sri Lanka Tests. In the meantime, if you want to take some other decision, you can do that.” So I told him I was not thinking about retirement; not even close to doing so. I told him, “I started playing cricket because I liked playing it, and will continue till I like doing so. If you are not looking at me for the Indian team, that is your decision.”‘
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