Indian cricket team: Is there a rift between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma
Indian cricket is a funny beast and it’s anybody’s guess when it will turn to bite you
Dubai: It’s not even a couple of weeks since India’s heart-breaking 18-run defeat to New Zealand in the ICC cricket World Cup 2019 semi-finals – but the whispers are growing louder by the day. All is not well in the Indian cricket squad. One section of players are allegedly aghast at captain Virat Kohli, coach Ravi Shastri and bowling coach Bharat Arun.
There’s discontent over unilateral decisions and partisanship, over team selection blunders at the World Cup and over benching talents like Mohammad Shami and Ravindra Jadeja during crucial matches. As the Indian cricket board names the squad for India’s series against West Indies, Gulf News dives deep into the storm that’s brewing in the dressing room:
The Indian team seems to have been hit by a rift between two super stars – Indian skipper Virat Kohli and opener Rohit Sharma.
Though the team management did their best to keep the news about the conflict between the two stars under wraps during the recent World Cup, soon after the team’s defeat to England as well as New Zealand in the semifinal, it spilled out into the open.
It is now becoming evident that the World Cup was played with Indian team divided into two camps – namely Kohli camp and Sharma camp. There were heavy disagreements on many issues with Kohli and even coach Ravi Shastri having a tough time to sort it out. With Sharma piling up centuries after centuries, the power of Sharma supporters and their views became stronger. Towards the end, especially after the defeat in the semifinal, it had reached a stage of a group mooting the idea that Kohli, who hasn’t won any ICC tournament for India, should step down from captaincy. India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun even admitted that certain players were working as a unit but quickly added that arguments and discussions can happen when taking decisions.
Kohli, who had ensured total control over the team till now, has found himself in a shaky situation after Sharma scored heavily while he did not even hit any century.
Though Kohli justified his form stating that he could not score a century owing to playing the role of a supporter to others, his view point did not receive the required backing. Meanwhile, a section in the BCCI were also influenced by the demand for split captaincy by suggesting that Sharma should lead India in limited over matches and Kohli’s captaincy be confined to Test matches.
The Sharma group is understood to have been upset at Mohammad Shami being made to sit out for a match, despite being their most successful bowler and Ravindra Jadeja, who proved to be a success through a fighting knock in semifinal, being ignored for many matches.
Soon it has become evident that Kohli does not have the knack to handle super stars in the team, like Sourav Ganguly did with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni in the team. Kohli’s captaincy had thus far gone smoothly as he was the only consistent scorer in the team till the rise of Sharma.
If not for the conflict, Kohli would have taken a break from the West Indies tour.
But now Kohli has ensured that he is available for T20, one-dayers and Test matches – putting the selectors in a dilemma of being unable to give the captaincy to Sharma. The selectors by appointing Kohli for all formats has now bought time because before the series against South Africa in October, Indian team may have new support staff.
However, whether the rift will be sorted out and whether Kohli will be able to keep the captaincy in limited over matches, one will have to wait and watch.
https://gulfnews.com/sport/cricket/...-virat-kohli-and-rohit-sharma-1.1563718097857