EXCLUSIVE: Darryl Cullinan blasts Australian media for provoking mind games

The Australian media is notoriously known all across the world for all the wrong reasons. And now former South batter and legend Darryl Cullinan has gone on to disclose how the Aussie media used to play mind games. And even today that is the case. Be it an altercation with Virat Kohli at the airport or in the Ravindra Jadeja presser, it all heating up in the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Speaking exclusively to InsideSport, Cullinan revealed how the mind games affected the teams that were touring Australia. “They (the Australian Team) obviously had the media behind them. I remember in the 90s coming into our changing room. When we went there, they went’s as friendly,” Cullinan told this website.

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SA legend Daryll Cullinan reveals how the “Australian Media” used mind games and the level they went to put the oppositions under pressure

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“They came and they said and I was listening to Mark Taylor tell us for 20 minutes how good Michael Slater is. I thought, all right fine, carry on as you wish. You sort of feel it was that attitude, every opportunity that there was mind games. And they took it off the field and the media took it,” he added.

The former Proteas great went on to explain how in the past the Aussie media would get into the opponent’s dressing room and sing praises about the Australian stars. While other teams visited Down Under, the media would play drop catch highlights which all credited to mind games at play.

“If you went to Australia and they showed news highlights. It was them bowling at a practice, a great shot. But it was us dropping a ball at nets practice. It went down to that sort of level. And that was continued by Steve Waugh. He built on that even further, he had a good team,” Cullinan concluded.

Friction in IND vs AUS Test Series

The Border Gavaskar Trophy is continuing in full swing with the series set on level terms at 1-1 after 3 Test matches. And when rivals collide, sparks are bound to fly and that has also been the case. It started with Yashasvi Jaiswal clashing with Mitchell Starc. The young southpaw taunted Starc in the Perth Test claiming Starc was bowling slow. In the following Tests, Starc retaliated by dispatching Jaiswal a number of times.

The next fiery outburst was between Travis Head and Mohammed Siraj. The Indian pacer sent off the southpaw who scored a stunning 140-run knock in Adelaide. Later on after the game, Siraj was slapped with a hefty match fine. Things took a huge turn when Virat Kohli was then involved.

The ace batter had a verbal fight with Aussie media at the airport. The batter requested privacy for his family, which the media and paparazzi didn’t agree to leading to an air of tension. Things escalated to an even greater extent when Ravindra Jadeja refused to answer questions from the media in English and answered those in Hindi. All these, are a small glimpse of the mind games that are ongoing during the BGT.