Wriddhiman Saha issue: 'Interaction with media has to be voluntary’, says ICA

The Indian Cricketers’ Association (ICA) has strongly condemned the threat to Wriddhiman Saha from a ‘senior Indian journalist’. The association urged the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) to take the strictest action possible in the matter including cancelling the journalist’s access and accreditation to all BCCI events.
 
ICA President Ashok Mehrotra said that the association fully supports the veteran cricketer and that the journalist’s behavior was shameful. Mehrotra said, “At the ICA our foremost concern is the welfare of cricketers, past and present, and we cannot accept such behavior from anyone let alone a journalist. We are fully with Saha and request him to reveal the journalist’s name. Should the BCCI feel the need to cancel the erring journalist’s accreditation and access to any BCCI event, we will fully support the move.”
 
Secretary of the cricketers’ body Hitesh Majumdar said that no player should face such ‘threats’ from any media person or elsewhere. He further added that media should come out in support of Saha and ensure that these issues don’t come up again.
 
Majumdar further said, “Any interaction between a player and the media has always to be voluntary.” Former cricketers – Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha and the former Team India coach Ravi Shastri have also condemned the threat to Wriddhiman Saha.
 
Shastri tweeted, “Shocking a player being threatened by a journo. Blatant position abuse. Something that’s happening too frequently with Team India. 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 US.”
 
Meanwhile, BCCI Treasurer Arun Dhumal told news agency PTI that the board will ask Wriddhiman to reveal the identity of the journalist in question and the context in which those messages were sent. Saha had, however, said in an interview to Indian Express that he will not disclose the identity of the journalist.