"Too ugly": Tensions rise between India and Australian media after Jadeja press conference

Tensions have heightened ahead of the Boxing Day Test after Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja didn’t answer any questions in English at a press conference promoting the Test.

Australian journalists were reportedly left frustrated after the press conference began 35 minutes late and Jadeja answered every question in Hindi, before leaving to catch the team bus.

India’s media team say the press conference was originally intended for only Indian journalists and that’s why no questions were answered in English, however, SEN Cricket commentator Bharat Sundaresan doesn’t believe this to be true.

“My experience of having covered Indian cricket for 10 and a half years is they do nothing of that sort, so I don’t think that was the case,” Sundaresan told SEN 1170 Afternoons.

“There’s a cultural divide there with Jadeja even though he can speak… passable English, his best answers are in Hindi so if you’re a journalist, if you want to get the best quotes you always go to Jadjea and ask him in Hindi.

“Obviously, it doesn’t help that the press conference was 35 minutes late… all these added to what had already started like the simmering tensions between the camera guys and the Indian team with the Virat Kohli incident at the airport.”

Sundaresan believes the drama between the Indian media team and Australian media isn’t casting the series in a positive light.

“It's been a bit too ugly, it’s unnecessary, it’s not doing anyone any favours,” Sundaresan said.

“It’s also a changing sign of how the media functions in India.”

Australia and India go into the Boxing Day Test with one win apiece, meaning the result in this Test will go a long way to shaping the victor of the Border-Gavaskar series.