Of late, members of the Indian cricket team have taken a different route to answer questions asked of them at press conference.
After MS Dhoni's intended fun with an Australia scribe who asked about the Indian skipper's future plans following the semi-final defeat against the West Indies in ICC World Twenty20, Suresh Raina's 'marital' reply to a question around the next India coach also made heads turn. "Are you happy with your wife or someone else?" was Raina's retort.
But that's not where the series ends.
On Friday in Mumbai, Ravichandran Ashwin told a journalist that he should phrase his question better, finding it 'amusing' to be pointed that he struggled with the dew when he last bowled at the Wankhede Stadium.
Ashwin is part of the new Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rising Pune Supergiants, which will be captained by MS Dhoni in its debut season. He was holding the pre-match press conference ahead of the opening game of IPL 9 between Pune and defending champions Mumbai Indians on Saturday.
Here's how the conversation unfolded.
Journalist: You struggled a bit with the dew the last time you played here?
Ashwin: You mean with the ball?
Journalist: Yes. How do you plan to counter it?
Ashwin: When there was dew, I didn’t bowl, It’s better you ask the question to someone who actually bowled. To be very honest I don’t know how it felt with the dew on. It’s very amusing, because in the first 12 balls I bowled, I created a wicket-opportunity as well. It’s quite surprising how you phrase your question.
(Dhoni gave just two overs to Ashwin in the semi-final and had given dew as the reason for not bring back his premier spinner.)
Journalist: The captain said dew affected.
Ashwin: I don’t know what he said.
The media manager then intervened, asking the questions to be restricted to IPL. But Ashwin's reply had made it quite evident by then that he wasn't really happy at being under-bowled in the World T20 semi-final.
