The famous saying “The pen is mightier than the sword” comes to mind quite often in cricket. One does not use this phrase in cricket.
The famous saying “The pen is mightier than the sword” comes to mind quite often in cricket. One does not use this phrase in a literary way in cricket but more as a verbal and mental dual between cricketers and the press. The press covers the spectrum of written and verbal cricket experts and critics.
The recent tete-a-tete in a press interview with Rohit Sharma in which he was livid when asked about his recent century in One-day International cricket against New Zealand. Although it was his 30th one for India, it was scored after a period of three years. Sharma, quite understandably, was upset and stood to explain the time gap vis-a-vis the number of matches he had played. One could gauge his anger and fury against the broadcasters and he made no bones about it.
Unfortunately, the battle between the press and the players has been an ongoing one for many decades. One talks of it being constructive criticism but not many can take it and it is not accepted as gospel truth by the cricketers.
A player, quite naturally, wants to do well and when one fails or performs badly the last thing one wants is for someone to rub salt into one’s wound. Whereas the journalist or broadcaster is doing one’s job of relaying what one feels, it is at the end their analysis of the situation.
This is the basic point of issue between the two. As much as praise, any adverse reporting by one remains embedded in a cricketer’s mind. It is the adverse reporting that comes forth strongly when one is down and many cricketers show their frustration and anger on account of it.
Recently, Virat Kohli also went through a series of disappointments with journalists and critics questioning his form and performance. There has not been a single cricketer who has not gone through it, even the great Sir Donald Bradman fell a victim to it. Cricket is a game of uncertainties and however good one may be, the Sword of Damocles is always hanging over a player’s head.
