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[REPORTS] Rift between Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma factions; Ravi Shastri’s role biased

Abdullah719

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https://www.thequint.com/sports/wor...sharma-virat-kohli-factions-within-team-india

It’s just been a couple of days since India crashed out of the 2019 ICC World Cup, losing in the semifinals to New Zealand, but reports of discontent and a rift within the side have already started to emerge.

The report also suggests that Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri often take unilateral decisions without taking others into confidence, creating discontent within the team. The latest instance of such a decision was the selection of Vijay Shankar over Ambati Rayudu as the designated No.4 in the World Cup squad, the report said.

Kohli Backed By Vinod Rai

According to the report, the rather high-handed approach of Shastri and Kohli goes unopposed within the team management as the captain enjoys support of Vinod Rai, chief of Supreme Court-backed CoA.

The report points out to this as a reason as to why no action was taken even after successive debacles like the fallout between Kohli and Kumble, the 1-2 loss in Test series in South Africa or the 1-4 loss in England.

The Captain Has His 'Favourites'

The report also says that apart from the indispensable players like Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, those in the 'Virat Company' get preference in team selection, adding that there are two factions within the team, the other one loyal to Rohit.

However, the rift within the squad hasn't yet reached a point to trigger a major conflict.

Also, the player reportedly said that Yuzvendra Chahal, by virtue of being part of the Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru side, is preferred over Kuldeep Yadav, when the situation demands to drop either of the two wrist spinners.

'When Will These People Leave?'

The report also claims that the player who spoke to Dainik Jagran was so exasperated with the coaching staff that he was awaiting a change in guard.

On being told that the coaching staff has been handed a 45-day extension, the player reportedly said that Kohli only pays heed to Shastri and bowling coach Bharat Arun.
 
Masala newz.

But there is something when it comes to Kuldeep. Dhoni has never been happy with him either. Don’t know why as he is a class player. Maybe because Kuldeep has kept his buddy Jaddu out?
 
Virat and Rohit have no factions , they clearly support each other.
 
Virat and Rohit have no factions , they clearly support each other.

Few months back they unfollowed each other across social medai platforms...Happy that real face of Kohli is coming out.Not surprised.Nobody dares to tell him when he reviews unilatelly.So this may be true.
Golden words by Tim Paine:He may be your captain but you cant seriously like him as a bloke.
He is arrogant brat and bighead who started whimping about how he want IPL style format for WC.Biggest dramebaaz.
 
faction or no faction, the decision to play the incompetent hack Kartick in any ODI , let alone semi speaks volumes about the coaching ability of that drunkard parasite Sastri.
 
Just like with Pakistan, these stories only come about when the side loses a game or two, or gets knocked out of a tournament.
 
When there is a group, there will always be a rift. There will always be sub groups within the group. There will always be some sort of power struggle.

Only difference is, great teams learn to put personal things aside.
 
Knew things were wrong.

There was no accountability.

Thank you NZ for knocking India out.

These bozos deserve it.

Hopefully we see some changes.
 
India needs to win 4 matches on the trot to quel these grouping "reports" :yk
 
Doubt most of this is true. They would obviously say Chahal is preferred over Kuldeep due to him playing with Kohli in the IPL. There doesn’t seem to be any reliable source for these allegations. If they are true, why not mention them earlier lol? Also don’t think Shastri has much say. He is there because he won’t interfere with what Kohli wants.
 
Indians throwing their toys out :))

Kohli is a poor captain, should be replaced. But India need to wake you and smell the coffee. They have an o.k team so need to put away delusionals of world dominance, wont happen.
 
I think Kohli needs to step down grouping or no grouping.
 
Indians throwing their toys out :))

Kohli is a poor captain, should be replaced. But India need to wake you and smell the coffee. They have an o.k team so need to put away delusionals of world dominance, wont happen.

But how come india is consistent n. O 1 test side over the years?
Plus N. O 1 or at most 2 odi side in the world and thrashed Australia, new Zealand, south Africa in their own den in odi series.?

Even mediocre indian side is not that bad. But this team plus the players who will come has lot of potential and will dominate cricket
 
Highly doubt this news.

Indian team is very professional and they are beyond these petty issues.
 
When Dhoni was in the helm, similar things happened. HE had favourites like Ashwin, Jaddu, Raina and even Mohit Sharma
Point is Captain is the ultimate authority, all decisions are his, victories are celebrated and in losses you get threads like this
 
But how come india is consistent n. O 1 test side over the years?
Plus N. O 1 or at most 2 odi side in the world and thrashed Australia, new Zealand, south Africa in their own den in odi series.?

Even mediocre indian side is not that bad. But this team plus the players who will come has lot of potential and will dominate cricket

World Cup matters, rankings and series wins are just fun cricket :yk
 
Literally had the same news about Pakistan after their loss to India.

Journalists don't even try anymore. :))
 
Few months back they unfollowed each other across social medai platforms...Happy that real face of Kohli is coming out.Not surprised.Nobody dares to tell him when he reviews unilatelly.So this may be true.
Golden words by Tim Paine:He may be your captain but you cant seriously like him as a bloke.
He is arrogant brat and bighead who started whimping about how he want IPL style format for WC.Biggest dramebaaz.
Lol. I don't think Indian fans want a choir boy as their captain. He might be arrogant and bighead, but he won us our first series in Australia which none of our legends couldn’t. Our fast bowlers are bowling their best under him and been winning so many ODI series everywhere else.
He is currently chickens out KOs but hey even Sachin could get a WC only at the last stages of his career. We need him at helm to win more.
 
So then we were a better team than you guys in the 90’s as we always beat you in Worldcups.��������

Winning on the world cup matters, only loser mentality gets excited by a win in the tournmament if you do not win the trophy. :sachin
 
The expectations of Indian fans are ridiculous! Being defeated by New Zealand in bowling friendly conditions is by no means a disgrace. I can't think of any team who would have been successful in the chase seeing how conditions were on the day. It was just too bad that NZ had the better of batting conditions, that's all. Most likely there is nothing going on at all, the media is making up these stories.
 
The expectations of Indian fans are ridiculous! Being defeated by New Zealand in bowling friendly conditions is by no means a disgrace. I can't think of any team who would have been successful in the chase seeing how conditions were on the day. It was just too bad that NZ had the better of batting conditions, that's all. Most likely there is nothing going on at all, the media is making up these stories.
Most of the Indians fans understand that. Its only some fair-weather fans are throwing tantrums.😂😂😂
 
There are no factions in the team and people support each other but Rohit should be made captain of limited overs side and Shastri should go
 
“However, the rift within the squad hasn't yet reached a point to trigger a major conflict.”
Actually there was quite a blowup between Kholi and Indian coach Shastri when Kholi went after Rishabh Pant for his inability to successfully put some runs on the board when India was losing to New Zealand. Apparently some former Indian cricketers are livid that Kholi had no business taking his anger and frustration out on Pant since it was Kholi himself who placed Pant in the middle order even though he had no experience in ODI‘s.

As a Team Captain Kholi should have known better than to blame young perhaps inexperienced cricketers for his own shortcomings. Kholi is notorious for his short temper and lack of maturity as a captain. He is more of a team breaker rather than one who strives keep his team positive and
 
This is normal in team sports. Even my high school team had these issues. They get more attention than they deserve.
 
Sharma should takeover. Kohli's had his chance and has failed to deliver a title in the past 5 years. Time for a new leader, new ideas.
 
During the Indian innings versus New Zealand, there were several moments when the camera went on Kohli and he was fuming. Seemed like some of his team-mates may have been on the receiving end of a few choice words.
 
Kohli-Shastri duo needs to be separated. Period. Shastri doesn't bring anything to the table, apart from dancing to Kohli's tune. Kohli at least won't be flying as much as he used to, following his below par performance in this WC.
The team has been in auto-pilot mode with some good individual performances. Neither Kohli nor Shastri has anything to do with the success in last few years.
 
Not surprised. Kohli looked very unhappy at Pandya in the final at the way in which he got out.

I also wasnt sure whose decision it was to bat Dhoni at 7.
 
Winning on the world cup matters, only loser mentality gets excited by a win in the tournmament if you do not win the trophy. :sachin

Very selective logic this and horribly wrong. Some purist will say, "only test cricket matters because its the purest form of cricket". It did matter for you when PCT were no 1 for a few milliseconds.
 
Sounds like Bechaini is doing the reporting in India as well
 
I personally think Rohit should be captain. He leads Mumbai Indians quite effectively and he is a better leader than Kohli. Kohli is a spoiled brat who is not captaincy material.
 
Coming to the topic, these factions are always there in any work environment where more than one guy is employed. In healthy situations these encourage players to outperform each other. Once upon a time in early 2000s, I changed 6 jobs in two years and every single work env had more than one groups. But this rift thing, I am still not sold on this news. Both Rohit and Kohli know that the other is very important for success of the team. Kohli needs Rohit and Rohit will need Kohli once he becomes captain of either T20 or ODI team. Also this doesn't always affect a team. Historical articles about late 70s/early 80s ATG WI team shows a bunch of unsatisfied egos and some of them even ditched the team to tour SA while some others sold themselves to Kerry Packer. Also Waugh's preference for underperforming players when better options were available e.g Healy/Gilchrist in tests, Symonds/Watson and his own brother is well known. I remember when they were on the verge of dropping Symonds from tests, Steve bowled him a lot of overs in an almost decided test. Symonds picked up 2/3 wickets and stayed gaining his form later.
If one Indian player on the condition of anonymity has spoken to one of the reporters, I have a feeling it may be Rayudu bcoz -
1. He has nothing to lose after retiring from all cricket.
2. If he comes out in the open with these statements, he will most likely face more than one libel case.
3. Any of the current player coming out will put his future in jeopardy.
4. The factions are there but there is no backstabbing so far. Kohli always speaks highly of MS, Rohit and vice versa. No Gambhir vs Dhoni like statements.
5. Older guys like Dhoni, Karthik and Jadhav know that they are living on a thin edge due to mediocre performances (When was the last time one of them won a match?). One step across the line and they are toast.
6. Most younger guys are part of the team for at most two-three years. Most of them only play LOIs.
7. Guys who don't fit into either of the above categories -Shami already has his plate full with his wife after him. Would acknowledge any support. Jadeja has played well in whatever limited opportunities he got and can look forward to be a permanent fixture of ODI team henceforward.
8. There can be other culprits like washed out/ retired cricketers, but they cant speak with such confidence in detail about a team they are no longer part of. In their case, it would have been a only one or two sentences with lots of media speculation thrown in. This rules out unhappy guys like Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan.

If it is indeed Rayudu, the report is not to be taken seriously because of his "sour grapes" situation. It'll be a serious matter only if another player comes out (even another unnamed source) and affirms it.
 
Pathetic reporting. 4 days ago, Kohli said Rohit is the best ODI batsman in the world. He didn't need to say that if there were rifts. I remember similar "rifts" between Kohli and Dhoni after 2015 exit. We know what happened next. Kohli was the sole reason MS played in this WC.

This is the same team that topped the world cup group stages and narrowly lost to a good bowling unit. They will beat everybody again anyday excluding England and hence are the rightful no.2. This team needs a couple of spots filled in the middle order and there are youngsters that can fit the bill.
 
It's also a joke that people are still talking about that hack Rayudu. He is India's Shoaib Malik, edging his way through fifties and padding his average through not outs. The guy had SR in 70s and couldn't rotate or hit big.
 
Grouping or not.

Virat Kohli should step down as a captain and Rohit should lead us in future.

Why will he? Kohli plays all formats and Rohit only 2. Kohli is a best player in all formats. Just because Rohit won Asia cup against mid and low tier teams, he should be a captain? There was MS influence even in Asia cup.
 
Shastri should be fired and Kohli should be sacked as captain. And i demand an explanation for dropping Shami for Bhuvi, dropping Kuldeep and selecting hack like Karthik.
 
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Shastri should be fired and Kohli should be sacked as captain. And i demand an explanation for dropping Dhami for Bhuvi, dropping Kuldeep and selecting hacks like Karthik.

Watch the last 5 overs of Eng and BD games and you will know why Shami was dropped. Watch the entire WC except for Pak game and you will know why Kuldeep was dropped. Watch the England game and you will know why Jadav was dropped for DK. Watch the games and you will find answers
 
Why will he? Kohli plays all formats and Rohit only 2. Kohli is a best player in all formats. Just because Rohit won Asia cup against mid and low tier teams, he should be a captain? There was MS influence even in Asia cup.

This is my personal view and I believe Rohit is a better captain. I can see the difference in captaincy in IPL as well.

And one more thing it is not necessary the best player in your team is a good captain as well.
Dhoni was a fantastic captain but he was never the best player in the team.
 
Watch the last 5 overs of Eng and BD games and you will know why Shami was dropped. Watch the entire WC except for Pak game and you will know why Kuldeep was dropped. Watch the England game and you will know why Jadav was dropped for DK. Watch the games and you will find answers

Please tell us what is so special about his highness Lord Karthik.
 
This is my personal view and I believe Rohit is a better captain. I can see the difference in captaincy in IPL as well.

And one more thing it is not necessary the best player in your team is a good captain as well.
Dhoni was a fantastic captain but he was never the best player in the team.

Opinions are fine but what is the logic of removing Kohli. Why will the selectors do that considering his success as a captain.
 
There are fundamental issues with Indian team management structure or lack of it. Kohli is answerable to nobody, he had power to remove Kumble and install puppet coach, Shastri. Controls selection to management pretty much single handed, but now pandora box will be opened...

This team was Kohlis hand picked team, which has major flaws, but since they were winning no body dare to question Kohli. Rahul was not an opener and Pant is not a batsmen, nor Vijay Shankar. Kohli apparently overrides selectors, coaches alike. In last two years there was no clear strategy to built middle order, when media asked those questions, Kohli makes couple of 💯 and silences the pundits, but that was never a solution.

Kohli is hard headed guy, and gets his way all the time. But you could see serious flaws with RCB and middle order in Indian team. Most of Indian team is built very well, to be fair, it’s only one flaw that got exposed at wrong time... Question is in today day and age, with so many staff available, should Captain be so powerful and running every thing??

Secondly, Dhoni issue has hurt India. Pant was replacement for Dhoni not a proper batsman. India has so many batsmen, their U-19 team has some really good batters, non of them were developed in last two years, which was poor decision... Dhoni also gets lot of free hand, there is too much hero worshipping going on in Indian media and fan base. Both Dhoni and Kohli are considered above everything, that ultimately effects professionalism and team. Indian was very professional team except in few areas, that hurt them.
 
Now all these rubbish stories will come out for masala news and milking money and coping mechanism and blame game.

Typical sub continent garbage
 
Do people even follow Indian cricket or are they just blindly throwing clichés about journalists?

Many Indian fans had noticed preferential treatment to Chahal even when Kuldeep was ruling the roost.

Guess who replaced Kuldeep?

Axar lol.

Open your eyes.
 
Now all these rubbish stories will come out for masala news and milking money and coping mechanism and blame game.

Typical sub continent garbage

It could all be false. But the allegations have more than a grain of truth, chahal has always been preferred to kuldeep, KL keeps failing yet keeps getting selected, yet for every other inconsistent player its perform or perish.

How Rayudu was treated, even though he isn't my favorite player and I was against him being picked for world cup, it's hard to argue against the fact that he was clearly screwed over, not far fetched to think that if people who only watch them on tv can see this, the people who are actually present there won't see them.

Victory covers all faults, but kohli hasn't been winning for a long time. Maybe atlast the players have had enough of the tin pot dictator.
 
It could all be false. But the allegations have more than a grain of truth, chahal has always been preferred to kuldeep, KL keeps failing yet keeps getting selected, yet for every other inconsistent player its perform or perish.

How Rayudu was treated, even though he isn't my favorite player and I was against him being picked for world cup, it's hard to argue against the fact that he was clearly screwed over, not far fetched to think that if people who only watch them on tv can see this, the people who are actually present there won't see them.

Victory covers all faults, but kohli hasn't been winning for a long time. Maybe atlast the players have had enough of the tin pot dictator.

You didn't know all this before the world cup? I think everyone who follows Indian team even casually knows about these things. But these allegations of groupings etc come only after a loss because it's a way to sell news. This is opportunistic reporting.

This world cup was lost in 2015-2017 itself when we didn't plan for 2019 world cup unlike England. You can't win world cup with just 2 batsmen.
 
I am glad that some Pakistani Posters have really put some sensible posts in this thread about our debacle! They have analyzed our situation much better than some Indians! Thanks for that!

Let's hope Rohit leads in LOIs. I think if he is given the responsibility and a long run as captain - till maybe next world cup! Then he can even decide how he fits in this team! If he loses his reflexes in next 2-3 years, he can even step down to No.4 with so many talented players emerging! He will do all this only if he is given the responsibility and the leadership! Kohli will blindly ask Rohit to open, blindly pick Chahal in all the matches, blindly ask Pant to bat at No.4 - and threatens him if he fails, blindly asks Pandya to come at No.5 in all the matches, blindly does everything!

On the other hand if Rahane is still retained in the Test Side, then he can be given the captaincy (So we will have two different captains for different formats!) That may even given him responsibility and he can improve his batting! Let's not get carried away with Kohli's home test wins, Australian tour wins (This team had immense skill to beat), we should have won the South African test series and we should have done better against England! So Kohli failed in tests as well (and he failed in ODIs too once we exited from WC) If Rahane cannot maintain his place then Ashwin can be made the captain for tests, because he is an important player in Tests! (But at times we may have to prefer Jadeja over him! But this can be sorted out, both these players can actually play in the XI always even overseas as alrounders and make up 5 bowling options!)

Captaincy and Coach should be changed. Otherwise this mess will continue. Kohli's arrogance will come down to earth if we do this, let him concentrate on his batting - His batting can win us more matches than his captaincy!
 
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You didn't know all this before the world cup? I think everyone who follows Indian team even casually knows about these things. But these allegations of groupings etc come only after a loss because it's a way to sell news. This is opportunistic reporting.

This world cup was lost in 2015-2017 itself when we didn't plan for 2019 world cup unlike England. You can't win world cup with just 2 batsmen.
Ofcourse everyone can see the problems and have known them for a long time. But it is a simple case of who bells the cat? You can't do much within or without when kohli's winning jamodis, ever heard of forced leadership change when times are good?
 
King kohli should quit if they try to take the captaincy away from him!!
It worked for imran khan against miandad, it will surely work for kohli against sharma!!
 
Ofcourse everyone can see the problems and have known them for a long time. But it is a simple case of who bells the cat? You can't do much within or without when kohli's winning jamodis, ever heard of forced leadership change when times are good?
'Who bells the cat"?
Where did you get this from?!!
 
Ofcourse everyone can see the problems and have known them for a long time. But it is a simple case of who bells the cat? You can't do much within or without when kohli's winning jamodis, ever heard of forced leadership change when times are good?

Yes but the reporting if you read the article is about groups in team. Rift between Rohit and Kohli. Both have been friends and speak highly of each other. All these talks of groupings half the times are masala news after loss.
 
Yes but the reporting if you read the article is about groups in team. Rift between Rohit and Kohli. Both have been friends and speak highly of each other. All these talks of groupings half the times are masala news after loss.

Rohit had taken a dig at Kohli in twitter during Aus test series if I am not wrong.
 
As jagatk said, this news may or may not be true.

But its clear all is not well.

The selections make no sense.

Favouritism is rampant.
 
Do people even follow Indian cricket or are they just blindly throwing clichés about journalists?

Many Indian fans had noticed preferential treatment to Chahal even when Kuldeep was ruling the roost.

Guess who replaced Kuldeep?

Axar lol.

Open your eyes.

Aren't you the same guy who was shouting from the rooftop that Kuldeep is a "mental midget"?

Why are you shedding crocodile tears for him now?
 
Masala news tbh.

Now that India is done and dusted; the joke news outlets have to print something ;)

Total rubbish
 
Yes but the reporting if you read the article is about groups in team. Rift between Rohit and Kohli. Both have been friends and speak highly of each other. All these talks of groupings half the times are masala news after loss.

It also says it hasn't reached the point where it becomes an major conflict either. You can be friends with a guy and not like how he is running the team.
 
Brawl over which beverage choice may be. Just a deflection to mask the loss. Who cares even if there is a rift. What is done is done. Move on. Only England will win the world cup. All the other 9 teams will go home with empty hands.
 
World Cup matters, rankings and series wins are just fun cricket :yk

Test cricket matters and India are a quality side. As a nuetral I can see that. India is a quality cricket team. A very good team. Not a great/all time great team but a very good team.
As a neutral I dislike kohli and I dislike most of the current Indian team -eg jadeja's celebration for a 50 when you have a huge task left to win a wc semi speaks volumes about his invidualistic aspect.

Still.. Gotta respect that India , while not dominating are still the best test side currently (hopefully until NZ takes that #1 spot :) ) .
And to me, the best test team is the best cricket team.
 
Aren't you the same guy who was shouting from the rooftop that Kuldeep is a "mental midget"?

Why are you shedding crocodile tears for him now?

Nah not me.

You can see my posts about Kuldeep in this forum.

I had raised this issue in the past too. Long time back.

Why not get your facts right before accusing.
 
It also says it hasn't reached the point where it becomes an major conflict either. You can be friends with a guy and not like how he is running the team.

When 20+ people together then obviously not everyone will get along with everyone. These guys are professionals and know what is needed of them.
 
Nah not me.

You can see my posts about Kuldeep in this forum.

I had raised this issue in the past too. Long time back.

Why not get your facts right before accusing.

You weren't the one labelling Shami, KL and Kuldeep as mental midgets? If not, then my bad. You will know what you have and have not said...

As far as favouring Chahal over Kuldeep - that's just bolognese.

Even Ganguly had many times picked Harbhajan over Kumble in his XI that doesn't mean that he had it in for Kumble.

And Kuldeep has been played by the same captain in tests where Chahal hasn't even been picked.

It can't be that Kohli gets his way in LOIs but not in tests. So the bottom line is that he has identified his players. But that doesn't automatically mean that there is bias and deceit involved. That's a very immature way of looking at things.
 
Didn't Rohit only get back into the team, especially the test team cos of Kohli's backing a few years ago?

I always got the impression Kohli really looked up to him and believed in his talent when others wanted him gone.
 
You weren't the one labelling Shami, KL and Kuldeep as mental midgets? If not, then my bad. You will know what you have and have not said...

As far as favouring Chahal over Kuldeep - that's just bolognese.

Even Ganguly had many times picked Harbhajan over Kumble in his XI that doesn't mean that he had it in for Kumble.

And Kuldeep has been played by the same captain in tests where Chahal hasn't even been picked.

It can't be that Kohli gets his way in LOIs but not in tests. So the bottom line is that he has identified his players. But that doesn't automatically mean that there is bias and deceit involved. That's a very immature way of looking at things.

Oh dear lord.

Its like you have badly mistook me for someone else.

Honest mistake but its like you have barely read my posts on this forum. :))

Chahal over Kuldeep has been going on even when Kuldeep was in red hot form.

What Ganguly did was different. There was a time when Bhajji WAS better. I used to support Bhajji over Kumble at that time.

This is different.
 
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