MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Apicture is worth a thousand words. In today’s world of rampant social media, it is worth perhaps even more. It would appear, on the face of it, that the group picture of the Indian cricket team at the Indian High Commissioner’s residence before the Lord’s Test had raised several issues while raising the hackles of tweeple. Why was captain Virat Kohli’s wife Anushka Sharma given special treatment? Was she the only one invited? Why was she in the centre of the picture while even the vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane was standing at back?

We decided to do a fact check before commenting on apparently discriminatory events.

Sources close to the high commission revealed that:

1. Anushka Sharma, Preethi Ashwin and Ayesha Dhawan, who were in London, were also invited to the dinner thrown by the HC and his wife and not formally by the Indian High Commission. They could not make it to the reception as one of the conditions stated in the invitation was that children below five were not welcome. They had to stay back since they could not leave their young kids alone in hotel rooms.

2.The picture was not a formal team photo opportunity and was clicked informally by a guest present.

3. Anushka Sharma, who was standing away from the centre of the action, was called to stand next to her by the High Commissioner Yash Sinha’s wife Girija. Just a woman seeking the company of another.

Since the photo-op was used while the team was trooping into the Kensington Garden residence, there was no particular order of standing and Rahane was in the back row of his own volition. The fact checker would prove that things are not always what they seem prima facie. There is more than a thousand words behind each picture. Any nasty comments or charges of discrimination made in this instance have to be seen in the light of the fact that tweeple were not aware of the background.

Hope this clears the air on poor Anushka Sharma who was in London on work.