Ashwin refuses to handle Kohli bouncer

Ravichandran Ashwin, who took important wickets in India’s previous World Cup game, discussed the sport with the media today. Naturally, he was steered towards the question of “player behaviour” and what he thought of clashes between players and the media. That was a difficult start, but the players are so used to simply ignoring or parrying away the questions from the media. Ashwin insisted that what he was going to say was his and his opinion only and no one else’s. “Media is here to support us. It's very heartening to see the media turn up in huge numbers and try to support us. But I mean, this is my take on it. I think the media has a responsible way of taking cricket back home in a responsible fashion, taking cricket to the public in the way it needs to be taken.”

He also said that he hadn’t heard what had happened between Kohli and the journalist, who was verbally attacked by Kohli. “Honestly, I do not know what's happened. It's definitely not in my jurisdiction,” he said. “I do not know what's happened.”

Cleanliness is Ambrose

Sir Curtly Ambrose, the West Indies bowling consultant, is a legendary figure in world cricket, and must count among the greatest fast bowlers of all time. When he bowls in the nets on occasion, he manages to make the ball do some peculiar things. He’s one of the first to be put down on paper when people make their lists of the greatest fast bowlers of the last 20 years. Despite this, Ambrose can do surprisingly endearing things. Today, for instance, he went around the nets area, picking up empty bottles of water or energy drinks thrown away by the players. He picked them up and made visits to the bin with his bottles retrieved from different parts of the nets.

Music for players

The Indian players had music on, loud and clear, soon after reaching the dressing box. They had Kishore Kumar on -- the song Raat Kali Ik Khwab Mein Aayi, to begin with. Now, when Sachin Tendulkar retired, there were comments from some players that that would spell the end of the Kishore Kumar era in the dressing room. MS Dhoni once said that after this, Kishore Kumar would give way to some other, more modern kind of music in the dressing room, and that Kishore Kumar would fade from memory. Well, it’s not happening in a hurry.