Wriddhiman Saha has received support from all quarters after he shared a screenshot of messages from a "journalist". Saha had taken to Twitter and shared the contents of the messages after he was dropped from India's Test squad for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka. Virender Sehwag was among the first to come out in support of Saha, and now former India coach Ravi Shastri too has reacted to the controversy. Shastri said it was "shocking a player being threatened by a journo" and asked BCCI president Sourav Ganguly to look into the matter.
"Shocking a player being threatened by a journo. Blatant position abuse. Something that's happening too frequently with #TeamIndia. Time for the BCCI PREZ to dive in. Find out who the person is in the interest of every cricketer. This is serious coming from ultimate team man WS," Shastri tweeted on Sunday night.
Former India cricketers Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh urged Saha to name the journalist in question.
"Please name him wriddhi! I promise you as a representative of players, I will make sure our cricket community boycotts this so called journalist!!"
"Wridhi you just name the person so that the cricket community knows who operates like this. Else even the good ones will be put under suspicion.. What kind of journalism is this?" tweeted Harbhajan Singh.
India's squads for the Test and T20I series were announced on Saturday. Saha along with veteran stars Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma were all dropped in from the Test squad.
Saha later revealed that the team management headed by head coach Rahul Dravid had told him to think about "retirement" as he won't be considered for selection henceforth.
The wicketkeeper-batter also said that Ganguly had messaged him following his fighting knock of 61 in the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur in November, assuring him of a place in the team "as long as I'm here (helming the BCCI)".
India take on Sri Lanka in a two-Test series at home starting March 4.