Indian skipper Virat Kohli has played down the wrong line by saying his statement on not being friends anymore with the Australian team was blown out of proportion
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli
It is fashionable to slam the media, especially when the heat is on. By letting the world know yesterday that his comment on not being friends with the Australia cricketers anymore was blown out of proportion, India's cricket captain Virat Kohli stopped short (just like he did when he very nearly called Steven Smith a cheat) of saying that the media were to blame for playing up the friendship story.
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An India captain is asked a question after a hard-fought, nasty series whether he still has friends in the Australian team since he said at the start of the series that he did have pals in their outfit. The captain says that is no more the case and the media would never hear him saying what he said at the start of the series. Now why would an international sportsman expect this story not to stare at readers' faces on the sports pages if not on the front pages?
Is there a lack of understanding about how the media works? Probably.
What is acceptable in Kohli's effort to water the flames of controversy, is his clarification that he didn't mean the full Australian team.
"I did not categorically say the whole Australian team but only a couple of individuals. I continue to be in good terms with the few guys I know & who I've played with at RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore) & that doesn't change," is what Kohli said on social media yesterday. That is fair enough. What gets the cynics excited is that this so-called clarification comes when the Indian Premier League (IPL) is close at hand.
Is Kohli trying too smoothen roads so that the IPL is not affected in anyway? It's something he only can answer, but the Indian media, especially those present in Dharamsala where he made the statement, have every right to be slighted at his yesterday's statement.
Some of the Australian touring journalists have been nasty while describing Kohli in this series. He ought to have taken them on. Ditto Cricket Australian (CA) CEO James Sutherland who seems to have got away with his comment about Kohli not being able to spell 'sorry'. Has the Indian cricket board at least sent a letter to CA to express their reservations of what Sutherland said in a radio interview?
Many a time the media does not reflect fairness and rightfully get slammed on those occasions, but do they have to be vilified all the time?
On Tuesday, former Australia captain Mark Taylor reminded Kohli that it's only a game. "At the end of the day it's become a fully professional game with quite a bit at stake, but it's still just a game and I think that's what people have got to remember," wrote Taylor. Australia's fine ex-skipper is right and while Kohli makes an effort to get back the 'best batsman in the world' title from Steve Smith, he'd do well to make a sincere effort in maturing as a captain.
He'd do well to get hold of a copy of Mike Brearley's The Art of Captaincy.
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