Senior sports journalist Boria Majumdar on Saturday accused veteran India cricketer Wriddhiman Saha of ‘doctoring and tampering’ with WhatsApp screenshots and stated that he would serve a legal notice for defamation concerning the recent allegations made by Saha.
Taking to social media, Majumdar stated that the India wicket-keeper batter doctored the WhatsApp chats after being dropped from the Test squad.
"If he felt so anguished on that day, he could have put out the tweet on the 13th, when the message was sent. It was a day of celebration for him as he got a bid of 2 crore. But he waited till the 19th, when he was dropped from the team, doctored the message, manipulated it and put it out in a manner at 10:12 in the night so as to garner public sympathy and play the perfect victim card," the veteran journalist said in a video shared on his social media profiles.
There are always two sides to a story. @Wriddhipops has doctored, tampered screenshots of my WhatsApp chats which have damaged my reputation and credibility. I have requested the @BCCI for a fair hearing. My lawyers are serving @Wriddhipops a defamation notice. Let truth prevail. pic.twitter.com/XBsiFVpskl
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) March 5, 2022
Earlier on Saturday evening, Saha had revealed that he told the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) every detail pertaining to the episode.
"I have told the committee everything I know. I have shared all the details with them. I can't tell you much right now. BCCI has asked me not to talk about the meeting outside as they will answer all your queries," the Siliguri-born cricketer told reporters after appearing before BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla, Treasurer Arun Dhumal and IPL governing council member Prabhtej Bhatia.
In February, Saha shared WhatsApp screenshots on his Twitter account alleging that a “respected” journalist threatened him for an interview. Interestingly, the 37-year-old India cricketer posted the screenshots the day he was dropped from the squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka.
After all of my contributions to Indian cricket..this is what I face from a so called “Respected” journalist! This is where the journalism has gone. pic.twitter.com/woVyq1sOZX
— Wriddhiman Saha (@Wriddhipops) February 19, 2022
"You did not call. Never again will I interview you. I don't take insults kindly. And I will remember this. This wasn't something you should have done,” the messages read.
Meanwhile, India cricket team head coach Rahul Dravid told Saha that the management decided to move on from him. Saha has already been demoted from Group B (INR 3 crore salary) to Group C (INR 1 crore) of the BCCI central contracts list.
Interestingly, Rishabh Pant has already established himself as India’s first-choice wicket-keeper in all three formats of the sport.
Since making his Test debut against South Africa in 2010, Saha has played 40 Test matches for India, amassing 1353 runs at an average of 29.41.
Featured photo: PRAKASH SINGH / AFP
