Wriddhiman Saha has decided not to reveal the names of the journalist who threatened him for not agreeing to give him an exclusive interview after his departure from the Indian Test team.

The veteran wicketkeeper had recently shared screenshots of disturbing WhatsApp messages he had received from a ‘supposedly respected journalist’ who, rather than asking, tried to coerce him into giving an exclusive interview.

After all my contributions to Indian cricket, this is what I’m faced with from a so-called ‘respected’ journalist! That’s where journalism went. pic.twitter.com/woVyq1sOZX

— Wriddhiman Saha (@Wriddhipops) February 19, 2022

Saha’s tweet left everyone speechless and the 37-year-old veteran received an outpouring of support from fans and cricket pundits. Everyone from Virender Sehwag to Harbhajan Singh to Ravi Shastri, everyone backed the West Bengal keeper and urged the BCCI to get to the bottom of it and punish the culprit.

Former head coach Ravi Shastri went so far as to say that this mistreatment of Saha was not a one-time treatment and that it happened “too frequently” to the Indian team. He added that it was time for BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly to act. and expose the reporter’s name for the benefit of every cricketer.

Shock a player threatened by a journalist. Flagrant abuse of position. Something that happens too often with #TeamIndia. It’s time for the BCCI PREZ to dive in. Find out who is the person in the interest of each cricketer. This is serious coming from the WS Ultimate Team Man https://t.co/gaRyfYVCrs

— Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) February 20, 2022

A report in the Times of India claimed that the BCCI was already looking into the matter and would approach Saha to explain the matter in detail and also reveal the name.

After this news broke, people began to think it was only a matter of time before the identity of the “respected scribe” was revealed to the world.

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But that will no longer be the case as the 40 Test veteran has taken a different stance on the whole matter and decided not to reveal the reporter’s name. Explaining the reasons for his decision, he said he never intended to “damage anyone’s career” or “bring anyone down”.

“I have not yet received any communication from BCCI. If they ask me to reveal the name (of the journalist), I would tell them that I never intended to harm anyone’s career, to belittle anyone. That’s why I didn’t reveal the name in my tweet,” Saha told The Indian Express.

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“It’s not my parents’ teaching. The main purpose of my tweet was to expose the fact that there is someone in the media who does such things, without respecting a player’s wish.

“It wasn’t fair, what I wanted to say through my tweets. Whoever did it knows that very well. I posted these tweets because I didn’t want players to face such things. I wanted to send the message that what was done was wrong and no one else should do it again,” he added.

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Saha may have her own reasons for not revealing the journalist’s identity. But now the people who praised him for not staying silent and revealing the abuse now feel cheated.

Fans are disappointed and are now wondering if he needed to post the screenshots if he didn’t want to go further.

Then you shouldn’t have created this ig mess. You took the name of Dravids, the name of the selectors but you can’t take the name of a journalist?

It only creates doubts imo

— Kaygee18 (@Kaygee1803) February 22, 2022

Wriddhiman Saha could easily take the name of Rahul Dravid, the current national coach and an Indian cricketing legend. But he couldn’t name the so-called journalist!

Which begs the question – Is the said journalist more powerful than the national team coach?

Such a scary thought!

— Akash patel (@Akashpatel233) February 22, 2022

Saha sympathy game khel Raha hain

— Ranbir Dutta (@Ranbir012) February 22, 2022

Yes, so why did he openly reveal his private conversations with Dada and Dravid either?

— Rajesh Rai (@rairaj) February 22, 2022

But he can happily reveal his personal conversation with Saurav Ganguly and also take that of Rahul Dravid, the head coach of the Indian team.
Because it’s about his career…

— Pitabasa Hota (@imPitabas26) February 22, 2022

For pehle cats public hi kyu ki? Ajeeb pagal hai.

— Pritish Dinesh Sathe प्रितीश दिनेश साठे (@Pritish_s_) February 22, 2022

Disappointing, as it puts other athletes at risk by abusing this and other journalists. The important thing is that BCCI puts in place policies to eradicate this abuse.

— Lloyd Peters (@lloydcpeters) February 22, 2022

Curiously, this teaching did not apply to Dravid. Fortunately named. Hypocrisy, right?

— Hamla Harris (@HamlaVeep) February 22, 2022

Tu bahar hi accha hai team se.

— Nikhar Srivastava (@iamnikhar) February 22, 2022

Many have even argued that he had the courage to reveal the private conversations he had with Ganguly and Dravid, but could not muster enough courage to expose the reporter.

The whole country stood with Saha on this whole issue and by not revealing the journalist’s name, he let everyone down.

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By concealing the identity, he managed to save the career of one journalist, but what of countless who would now face unnecessary scrutiny.