Andrew Leipus is by all accounts a great sports scientist. The Australian has worked at the highest levels of the game for decades and his expertise in keeping elite cricketers fit and functional is unquestioned. The question is why, on the eve of a must-win game – a real season-defining clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Dharamsala – the Punjab Kings thought it fit to send their physio to face the press.
Almost a dozen journalists made their way to the HPCA stadium on Saturday. They had questions. The real ones. The kind that practically write themselves before a knockout-or-bust match after five straight losses. What is the team combination? How does the dressing room handle the pressure? What has changed in training? Who do you turn to when the season is slipping away? These were stories waiting to be told.
Instead, Dharamsala got Andrew Leipus.
To be fair to the man, he was kind. He showed up. he replied. When asked about the significance of the throw, he said, “Yeah, it’s probably a little bit out of my scope…Guys don’t talk about it a lot. It is what it is.” Touching on the two consecutive defeats on that ground and the conditions for the afternoon’s game, he said: “Again, out of my scope. I’m not involved in anything to do with the cricketing side of things. I tend to stick to my lane.”
He’s right, of course. That is precisely his field of activity. That’s exactly his streak. The problem is that the Punjab Kings have sent him to a place where his reach has always been insufficient, where staying in his lane has always left journalists – and readers – short of anything of substance. It’s not Andrew Leipus’s fault. It’s a choice made by the franchise. And that’s an option worth exploring.
READ BETWEEN THE LINES?
The Punjab Kings are in free fall. Five losses on the trot. A team that started the season with six straight wins and real title ambitions is now looking to qualify. And a circus formed around this collapse.
There was Arshdeep Singh’s Snapchat, which seemingly had no off switch. First came a clip that inadvertently showed Yuzvendra Chahal allegedly vaping on a team flight — a video that prompted the BCCI to issue an eight-page disciplinary notice. Then came another Snapchat, this time capturing the pacer making colorful remarks about Mumbai Indians batsman Tilaka Varma – calling him “Andhere” and creating an unflattering contrast to the fair-skinned teammate. Then, as if to complete the hat-trick, Arshdeep sent a scathing reply to a fan who questioned his resolve, asking, “What have you done for Punjab Singh saab? People who keep asking the family for chips and money for cold drinks are now giving me advice about Punjab?”
Then there were reports of a divided dressing room, of players unhappy with captain Shreyas Iyer’s attitude, of Prabhsimran Singh reportedly putting on 10 kilos, of players missing flights and skipping morning sessions. The franchise pushed back and they were within their rights to do so. Much of what was spread had no named sources or verified facts, and any organization would have the right to dispute it. In its original form, their statement was aimed squarely at sports journalists.
Co-owner Preity Zinta amplified that backlash, sharply distinguishing between legitimate criticism and what she characterized as deliberate misinformation. The statement was then quietly modified, the sharper language toned down. But the sentiment was clear: The Punjab Kings felt the coverage had crossed the line.
NOT ONLY PUNJAB KINGS
There is a wider trend here that Punjabi kings are not alone in following. IPL franchises, and even international sides, are increasingly reluctant to send players or decision-makers who can meaningfully explain performances, tactics or team calls to press conferences. Part of that is understandable. At a critical moment in a tournament, you don’t want your captain or your best bowler sitting in front of a row of microphones and cameras asking uncomfortable questions about team dynamics or dips in form. That is a legitimate position.
But the global standard, especially in football, is that the men who matter are up front. Managers at the sharp end of the season, coaches whose jobs are on the line, captains whose teams are in crisis – they come and face it. A press conference is not polite. It’s a responsibility.
There is also a broadcasting dimension. In the IPL media ecosystem, broadcasters have the best access. The player of the match will interact directly with the commentary team after the match. The great creator of the evening will receive a plum program. What’s left for the written press—journalists to produce insight, analysis, long liability articles—is too often a support staff with limited scope and a mandate to say as little as possible.
And then there is the calculation of social networks. Franchises increasingly believe that they do not need traditional media. Why would you when your Instagram video has three million views and your post-match recap on X goes straight to the fans? The Punjabi Kings, in particular, have cultivated a social media presence that is aggressive, reactive and – when the team is winning – relentlessly self-congratulatory. The sledging and banter they put on online that they think is fun often results in something more uncomfortable. It was echoed by fans and journalists. When you’re losing six in a row, that online prowess quickly wears off.
CAN THE MEDIA BE TO BLAME?
None of this is to say that the media’s hands are completely clean. Unverified claims circulate as news. The Prabhsimran weight story, the dressing room rift – much of it emerged from anonymous social media posts with no named sources or confirmed facts. Cricket Twitter doesn’t always wait for facts to trend. Franchises aren’t bad for pushing it.
But here’s the problem: when a journalist travels to Dharamsala for a press conference—the only formal, structured occasion where access is guaranteed, where the journalist is there specifically to get information and ask questions their readers can’t—sending a physical therapist is no countermeasure to fake news. It is a refusal to engage at all. It’s a team that says in the most polite way possible: we don’t care about your questions.
The tension here isn’t really about punishment or retribution. It’s about a relationship that only works when both parties hold up their end. Punjabi kings have every right to demand accuracy. Journalists have every obligation to provide this. But accurate journalism requires access. And if the approach offered is a physio who can’t tell you anything about tactics, selection or the mental state of a team in crisis, then the press conference has become a formality – something to be ticked off, not addressed.
Both things can be true at the same time: some coverage of the Punjab Kings this season has been irresponsible, and the franchise’s decision to send someone who couldn’t answer the questions that mattered most didn’t make things better.
Physio at a pre-match press conference, on the eve of a must-win game, with a dozen journalists waiting and a season in crisis – that’s not media management. That’s avoiding the media dressed in a polo shirt.
Andrew Leipus stayed in his lane. The question is: why did the Punjab kings send him on a journey they had no intention of traveling?
IPL 2026 | IPL Schedule | IPL Points Table | IPL Player Stats | Purple Cap | Orange Cap | IPL Videos | Cricket News | Live Score
– The end
Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
16 May 2026 21:28 IST
