Walia appeal to the media:Let's move on

 On any other day, it could have been the duty of the captain, coach or team manager to clarify to the media about a delicate issue like the communication breakdown between two senior players in the team. But on Friday, it was the duty of GS Walia, the media manager of the team, to address the press, asking them to forget the past and move on. 

“Certainly. All facts have been given to nation. I don’t want to get into why it happened. Let’s all be positive in the future, and move on,” Walia said. 

The Punjab Cricket Association joint secretary then went on to assert that there has been no communication gap within the team. “I’ll tell you there was no communication gap. But whatsoever is being shown or media is writing, the team is certainly concerned about it,” he said. 

When reminded about the contradictary statements made by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virender Sehwag on the rotation policy, Walia simply said: “Let us not analyse the same situation, why this was generated, how it came to this.” It was a sentence he often repeated in the course of the press conference. 

Walia said no meeting was held on Thursday night between the players, among whom the rift was reported, at the behest of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. 

“Immediately when we came back along with Sehwag (after Sehwag’s controversial press do on Febraury 21 at Brisbane), I told everybody that this is not a small thing. The nation must know what is happening here. You are the only medium through which the information is passed on to the whole nation. 

“So, I conveyed this to them immediately, in exactly the same terms. Everybody was there. All 17. They said, 'sir, there is no difference, but we will be vigilant in future. If somebody has seen there is a communication gap, we will try to avoid that situation in the future.' So let us now all concentrate on the game,” he said. 

Walia also admitted that there might have been a bit of lack of communication between the team and the BCCI on this issue. Reports in India had quoted BCCI officials saying that media misquoted Sehwag on the rotation policy. "At a distance, if the president has said it, it is maybe his views," Walia said. "But I have never said it. I have never blamed the media. There could be a communication gap. Seeing things from a distance. Let us all forget everything."

All-rounder Irfan Pathan, who addressed the media earlier in the day, also denied talks of rift in the team.

“The whole group only wants to win next two matches. There is no difference of opinion in the team, definitely not. I have been hearing things, but it’s nothing like that. It’s a matter of winning big games. Once we start winning the big games, these things are going to vanish,” he said.