The relationship between the Indian team and accompanying media hit rock bottom when Harbhajan Singh was surprisingly sent in for the press conference at the end of the first day's play in the four-day game against Rest of South Africa, on Thursday.
The media, which had made a request with Indian media manager Rajan Nair for interaction with the day's top performers -- either Sourav Ganguly or Irfan Pathan -- was stunned to see Harbhajan walk in for the end-of-the day briefing.
A few in the print media boycotted the session, which came on the heels of a boycott by the electronic media earlier in the day. It represented a complete breakdown in relations between the team and media on the tour.
"Sourav Ganguly was hit on the head and Pathan was too exhausted and the team management felt that Harbhajan Singh should stand in for them," Nair said.
The media told Nair that they were prepared to wait for Pathan to recover, but were informed that tam management had already made up its mind on Harbhajan addressing the media.
No allowance was made for the argument that Ganguly, hit on his helmet when in his fifties, had batted for over an hour thereafter and scored a fighting 83.
The electronic media had earlier boycotted the day's proceedings for what they termed as poor language used by a Cricket South Africa official and Nair's failure to intervene in the matter.
The media, both print and electronic, are frustrated on the tour with the gag on Indian players. Their requests for even a common press conference with a player of their choice have been repeatedly turned down.